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H+R’s media profile increased again in the month with a feature on the BBC ‘The One Show’ focusing on the fire damaged Glasgow School of Art and our involvement. H+R’s project workload in the month has been fairly typical with the usual wide range of fascinating buildings to investigate all over the country. In particular, Local Authorities and institutions are increasingly turning to H+R recognising the ‘value-added’ that H+R’s investigative consultancy invariably provides. H+R have been fortunate to undertake difficult…

Further to media interest in H+R activities raised in March, an article on H+R’s Rothounds appeared in The Times on 24 March and BBC Countryfile have been in contact looking to film later in the year. Projects of special interest in the month included the Queen Anne ‘Bushy House’, HQ and museum of the National Physical Laboratory where dry rot was found to be prevalent. Additional building defect surveys were undertaken at the London Business School and also for the…

H+R have been invited to appear on TV again courtesy this time of Sam the Rothound. Filming took place at Glasgow School of Art. The transmission date will be in the next couple of months as part of The One Show programme on BBC one. Furthering H+R connections with London Boroughs, H+R undertook a series of specialist surveys covering ground and surface drainage, condensation risk analysis, retained moisture management and timber condition at the oldest building in Southall which is…

A Happy New Year to all those interested in H+R! January has proved to be more of a retrospective month in relation to project work. While new enquiries and discussions about prospective schemes have been incessant, there has been time to catch up with outstanding investigative consultancy around the country. Input has ranged geographically from updating environmental monitoring systems at Bodmin Town Hall, to an overall wood boring insect infestation risk management report on a Jacobean mansion outside Dorking to…

Netley’s annual Christmas Tree ritual was observed with all hands helping to erect a 24-foot specimen from a neighbouring estate.  It now acts as a splendid focal point for the whole office. Extensive investigations and consultancy concerning persistent damp related problems have commenced for the National Trust at Ham House and Osterley Park.  This follows similar involvement for them at Wimpole Hall and Blickling Hall in previous years.  The surveys will utilise a wide range of analytical and monitoring techniques. …

H+R Northern team have been pleased to assist our clients Muse Developments, the structural engineers, Clancy Consulting, the main contractors Eric Wright and the project managers Morgan Sindall with the successful rehabilitation of approximately forty timber-framed waterside dwellings at Islington Wharf in Ancotes Manchester http://www.islingtonwharf-locks.co.uk/. Islington Wharf is an innovative 21st Century canal-side development project which adds to H+R’s already fulsome portfolio of involvement with strategically important canal-side building regeneration projects radiating from Manchester’s Piccadilly Basin spanning over some two decades. The 1806 Carver’s Warehouse on Dale St is…

Dr David Watt (Associate Director) provided consultancy services to Binham Parochial Church Council for works to the Priory Church of St Mary and the Holy Cross at Binham in Norfolk during 2016. The remaining nave of what was a cruciform building with central crossing tower forms the parish church and the remains of the claustral buildings are in the guardianship of English Heritage. The west front of the church dates from between 1226 and 1244 and its window is considered…

The month of November saw the annual return of H+R to the Historic Houses Association AGM and exhibition. It was an opportunity for new members of staff recruited in the year to meet the wider conservation community and the H+R stand featured Wilson the Rothound, the uprated drone and presentations on newly developed survey techniques. H+R would like to congratulate the winners in various categories of the Building Awards 2016, announced in the month. We are fortunate to work with…

Of note in the month was the drawing to a close of H+R’s six year involvement on the huge King’s Cross Basin redevelopment reporting to Argent as the developer and BAM as the contractor. It has been a privilege to witness the complete regeneration of what was until relatively recently, a very run-down and dilapidated part of London. Over the years, H+R have undertaken specialist investigations and consulted on many buildings on the project, the principal ones being: Granary Square…

A wider range of project work was undertaken in September with H+R’s specialist advice being sought on remediation of damp and mould issues affecting a severely fire damaged building for Bristol University. This involvement partners our on-going project work for Bristol City Council at the fire damaged Ashton Court An appointment early in the month to undertake a Stage 1 overall risk management survey for retained moisture and structural timber condition in Grosvenor Crescent, London has now meant that an…

Wythenshawe Hall an Elizabethan Hall besieged by Cromwell’s Parliamentarian troops in the winter of 1643 (and more recently by an arsonist) suffered a major fire in March. Resultant water penetration from the badly damaged roof threatened the historic timber structures, the panelled rooms and fine plaster ceilings. The properties of the ancient English Oak used in the main hall have not surprisingly proved robust. H+R Rothound Sam was deployed on site in July and will probably revisit later in the…

There has been no apparent let up in the flow of enquiries received during the holiday month of August and counter-intuitively during the current heatwave, much of H+R’s project work has revolved around damp issues, principally in London. Specialist damp investigations for commercial property managers have been undertaken in Oxford Street, St, James’ Street, North Audley Street, Eaton Terrace, King’s Cross, Pelham Crescent, Marylebone High Street, Wells Street and Acton High Street H+R’s growing involvement in providing consultancy and specialist…