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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…

On-going work at the Palace of Westminster has revealed fascinating roof structures within the Norman Shaw designed buildings with innovative use of steel and timber. Involvement on the principal Barry, Pugin and Scott Parliamentary building will pick up pace later in the year H+R are now fully engaged on the refurbishment of Hammersmith Town Hall with primary responsibility to ensure that risks resulting from moisture retention in the masonry masses and building voids are fully managed On contemporary buildings, a…

The month has seen quite a focus on the East of England with on-going investigative consultancy at the re-modelling of Ipswich Museum and also at Lowestoft Town Hall supporting the Conservation Architects, Richard Griffiths associates www.rgarchitects.com. In addition, our work has begun in Saffron Walden at the huge former Friends School development. For those who don’t know the town, it is an exemplar for the preservation of the medieval timber framed streetscape. The town was re-named with the pre-fix Saffron…

It is now just over 25 years ago that the Windsor Castle restoration was completed after the disastrous fire. H+R’s principal involvement was in relation to providing investigative consultancy on the drying down of the affected structures after more than a million gallons of water was pumped in to extinguish the fire. A carefully devised programme of protracted monitoring was put together by H+R in support of the Architects, Donald Insall Associates www.donaldinsallassociates.co.uk and the Royal Household. This enabled a…

Spring has undoubtedly sprung at H+R’s Northern office!  The team reacquainted themselves with historic buildings across the country, while getting stuck into fresh, new projects too.  In April, the team were invited to return to Liverpool Cathedral, an epic Giles Gilbert Scott architectural masterpiece, to complete a timber and damp survey of the ceiling timbers in the Children’s Chapel and the Chapel of the Holy Spirit. They also returned to Redcar Central Station to complete a timber condition survey. A…

The month has been notable for engagement at theatres in the West End of London. Three leading theatres have been investigated for issues mainly relating to the effects of penetrating damp. Having unfettered access to the ‘back of house’ has been an educative and interesting experience for the surveyors involved. As a result the ‘gilt has come off the gingerbread’ for them Major work in Scotland has included further work at the Scottish Co-op Discovery and Activity Centre www. www.westlothian.gov.uk,…

It has been satisfying to follow the progress of the re-birth of the historic collection of camellias at Chiswick House. H+R undertook a series of timber investigations of the listed glasshouses hosting one of the world’s oldest camellia collections www.chiswickhouseandgardens.org.uk Interestingly and coinciding with H+R’s extensive work currently and over the years for the City of London on their three wholesale markets at Smithfield, Billingsgate and Spitalfield, H+R have been following the City’s strategic plans. The hope is to create…