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A wet month which has led to an uptick in enquiries relating to penetrating damp. Heavy rainfall has been exploiting inadequate maintenance regimes, design weaknesses and poor site discipline during the contract phase. H+R are heavily engaged with three major CLT decay cases currently, all the result of these issues   Particular projects have included the Henley Building in Kent, which is a notable Art Deco structure built for the company of that name who were leaders in the manufacturer…

Spring is emerging at Netley with Primroses abounding and we’ll shortly witness the explosion of Cowslips and Bluebells having now seen the Snowdrops past their best.  Come May and June the wildflower meadows at Netley will be covered with the many species of native orchids we have   Dragging us away from the natural world meant intensive surveying work on a range of challenging projects including the Ruskin School of Art in Oxford, the Palais de Danse in St Ives…

After a gap of a couple of years it was interesting to return to Swansea.  Our work at the prison now being complete it was time to turn our attention to a terrace of houses, now scheduled for refurbishment. The houses were of interest due to Cambrian Place being one of Swansea’s older streets, its architecture dating from 1821, running from the Royal Institution (Museum) to the River Tawe and in close proximity to the town’s original proper dock  …

The beginning of 2024 has really been one of Hogmanay rather than a ‘Happy New Year’, as H+R’s work has been largely in Scotland with specialist surveys at Fort George on the timber Ravelin Bridge for Historic Environment Scotland and at the large redevelopment of the old Bangour Hospital outside Edinburgh notably for its selection of Grade A buildings, particularly the Chapel in the Romanesque style by the Architect Harold Tarbolton.  The hospital was one of the first in the…

Another year draws to an end and the Netley office Christmas tree this year was laden with natural fir cones which apparently only appear on trees over 25 years old which is an interesting thought in terms of what projects H+R would have been engaged with towards the end of the last century when the tree was seeded   Much activity in the build-up to Christmas has seen further involvement at Uppark for the National Trust, the London Chest Hospital,…

H+R’s Eastern Office in Newark, staffed by David Watt and Katie McAndrew, has been kept busy over the past months with surveys, project work, contract administration and consultancy. One highlight early in the year was being appointed to prepare a conservation management plan for the Marx Memorial Library and Workers’ School in London. The building has a fascinating history and houses important archive and library collections on Marxism, the history of socialism and the working-class movement as well as related…

The month of November is always a busy one at H+R and this year is no exception.  Enquiry levels are as high as they ever have been with notable engagements all over the UK.  At the Castle Hill complex of historic buildings in Norwich, the WWI ‘Trench Experience’ was in need of specialist investigation as a combination of penetrating damp, moisture retention and decay was resulting in a visitor experience which was becoming rather too authentic!  Other ‘castle’ work included…

Spooky season has been and gone and H+R’s Northern Office has enjoyed some un-be-leaf-ably interesting jobs this Autumn.   September saw our team visit the Grade I listed Brodsworth Hall near Doncaster to complete a roof drainage survey. The estate had passed through multiple families and owners and had major refurbishments in the 16th and 17th centuries.  The settlement there dates as far back as the Iron Age period. Last occupied by the Thellusion family until 1988, the estate was…

The most notable news of the month has been the announcement of the incorporation of H+R into the SOCOTEC Group, forming parts of their Buildings and Real Estate Division based in the UK. The process has taken year of careful planning and as the UK’s leading Building Pathologists, H+R are an attractive addition to SOCOTEC’s wide ranging offer to the property and construction industry as Europe’s No1 leader in Testing, Inspection and Certification. H+R will still very much continue its’…

A very varied month with a more than usually wide range of project work encountered. However, the main effort was concentrated on some of the ever larger projects that H+R are increasingly invited to support. These mainly involve large commercial holdings in the principal cities of the UK as well as for large residential developments. In addition, there is a notable upswing in enquiries involving latent defects and failure in contemporary structures. The risk profile for such developments typically involving…

H+R’s Northern Office had a busy time diving into historic ecclesiastical buildings over the not-so-sunny summer months. In July, our Northern team were engaged on a timber and damp survey of the roof structure at Westgate Unitarian Chapel in Wakefield. The Grade II* listed Georgian building features the pulpit and pews from the original 1737 chapel and has its own catacombs where industrialists, innovators, and more are interred. The current building opened its doors in 1752 and took architectural inspiration…

H+R had a fascinating journey through the second half 20th Century British interior design on a private scheme in London which, although modest as viewed from the exterior, holds plenty of surprises within. The interior is an exemplar of taste firstly of Oliver Hill and subsequently John Fowler in the 1950s and lastly Lorenzo Mongiardino in the 1980s. Mongiardino was famous for his mantra that ‘The light of London is not that of Rome’. What connected them all was the…