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Return visits to Scotland were undertaken in the month including maintaining the H+R Curator rainwater drainage alarm system at Balnagown Castle. H+R also provided further investigative consultancy at the Scottish National Gallery and also at Ramsay Gardens. The latter is an interesting 1890s tenement building developed by the botanist and urban planner Patrick Geddes. H+R have been advising on its progressive refurbishment for several year Work continues for several contractor clients at the new Museum of London development centred on…

During the month, there has been more of an emphasis on work in the Midlands and North of England with additional support provided from Oxford and Surrey offices. Particular projects of note have included Salford Cathedral, the refurbishment of the Rutland Mills complex in llkeston and the Ainscough Mill complex in Lancashire. In addition, the work resumed at Leeds Central High School and the former Kings School in Macclesfield Numerous church investigations have taken place throughout Northern England and Wales:…

In May H+R were appointed by Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council to undertake a timber and damp survey of Redcar Central Station.  The Grade II listed station was constructed in 1861 by the Stockton and Darlington Railway.  The building had been in use as a railway station until the late 20th Century before it was adapted into Redcar Station Business Centre.  The building has been vacant since 2014 and had been targeted by lead thieves resulting in extensive damage to…

H+R’s involvement in the planned refurbishment of the Great Hall at St Bartholomew’s Hospital (‘Barts’) in London has involved a lot of investigative work, part of our input being the deployment of a Rothound. Pip gained substantial publicity in the national press and on TV as her visit coincided with National Dogs Day. The Great Hall forms part of the ongoing hospital refurbishment and dates to 1732 Heritage work for institutions such as Greenwich University, Haileybury School and Oriel College,…

  H+R were pleased to see the publicity surrounding the launch of the newly remodeled Municipal Bank in Birmingham. The 1930s neoclassical building has now become The Exchange. Make Architects have done a superb job together with Donald Insall Associates and Glancy Nicholls. The building sits prominently in Centenary Square. H+R provided detailed investigative consultancy covering retained moisture in the masonry masses, dry rot infection and the condition of the plaster finishes. Of notable interest were the glorious Art Deco mirrored…

Several projects that H+R have worked on were extensively covered in the specialist press during the course of the month. Country Life featured Wildernesse House in Kent with it s magnificent main stair hall incorporating an imaginative library set up by the Booksellers Association. As a side note, H+R used to publish the Year Book of the Booksellers Association back in the 1980s! In addition, the King’s Observatory in Richmond’s Old Deer Park was featured now that its renovation is…

This Month has seen a return to the Tyntesfield estate outside Bristol after our first involvement nearly 20 years ago.  For those of us who have been deeply involved with the National Trust for several decades, the story of how the house came under their custodianship is still a remarkable one remaining as it did as a time capsule with the last Baron Wraxall, a bachelor, living in just three rooms for the last years of his life Work has…

H+R were commissioned by a private client to undertake a detailed investigation of damp and timber decay of Greta Hall in Keswick.  Dating from the late 18th century, the Grade I listed building was home to the romantic poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey.  The property was frequently visited by the lake poets Wordsworth, Shelley, Byron and Keats and other notable figures such as John Ruskin and Sir Walter Scott.  In later times the Hall served as a girls…

Not unusually, H+R surveyors found themselves at different ends of the country with investigations of St Ann’s Church ensconced within the active Royal Naval dockyard in Portsmouth and also in Scotland at Stirling Castle.  At the latter, H+R were tasked with providing historical research into the origin of the roof timbers by deciphering the incised importation marks.  Historic context was also gained by establishing how the individual timbers had been sawn and worked Work in London included further investigations at…

As shown in the photograph; H+R staff are doing their bit, including ‘Pip’ the Rothound!  Netley House are holding a cake sale this week to raise money for the UNICEF children Ukraine appeal, with themed cakes and colours! Tim Hutton of H+R Environmental Investigations is starting a campaign to ‘Put on extra layers of clothing and/or a head covering to help save the Ukraine and the World’:  This would allow temperatures in all buildings to be reduced by 5 to…

H+R returned to Scotland during the month for further consultancy at the Scottish National Gallery.  More involvement at the Glasgow School of Art is on the horizon as the next phase of the project gathers pace Of particular interest was an investigation of the belfry at Liverpool Cathedral by the Manchester Office and Castle Acre Priory by the Newark office.  Buildings of significant historic interest for the Southern office included Trafalgar Park in Dorset which was purchased through Act of…

The thermographic and penetrating damp investigations at the British Museum gathered pace in the month with H+R specialists contending with difficult weather conditions necessitating very early starts and strong winds delaying drone deployment.  Other major projects in London started with the complete refurbishment of one of the largest town houses in Mayfair to become a private members club and the wholesale re-purposing of the former Grosvenor Gardens House Of particular interest in the month was the investigation of the system…