July 2018
As the temperatures rose so did H+R’s workload with a wide variety of new project work
Martello Tower No. 4 in Folkstone which is being refurbished as a private home was investigated for moisture management. A remedial strategy has been developed taking into account the wish to have fair faced brickwork exposed to the interior. The last Martello tower investigated by H+R was 20 years ago in Suffolk
Also relating to damp penetration issues, the fine double-height vaulted basement structure of Colston Hall in Bristol has been sampled for retained moisture and advice given to the client team and contractor Willmott Dixon. This was for the purpose of risk management and specification of finishes as part of the re-launch of the building by Bristol City Council. Edward Colston was a great 17th century benefactor of the city but due to his extensive slave owning interests, his name is now very controversial resulting in campaigns for re-naming institutions, buildings and streets in the City
H+R involvement at the Grade II* modernist Hornsey Town Hall has re-started and will soon become one of the summer’s major commissions
Work for City of London livery companies continues, with the conversion of the old school attached to St Dunstan’s Church being converted by the Carmen’s Company
In London’s Clubland, specialist façade renovation consultancy continues at the Oxford and Cambridge Club
Stately Home commissions in the month included Ickworth Hall where an H+R team surveyed the splendid rotunda roof made up of a magnificent array of timbers. In addition, pre-start site visits were undertaken at Anglesey Abbey and an overall survey of Spain’s Hall in Essex was also undertaken
Not all of H+R’s work concerns historic structures and, in the month, an extensive investigation of the whole structure of Swanne House in Greenwich was undertaken for a Housing Association
