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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…

In December, H+R attended the former Birkdale Deaf School in Southport to undertake a preliminary investigation of masonry damp and timber condition.  Winworth Construction Ltd have been granted planning permission by Sefton Council to redevelop the Grade II listed building and surrounding site into a retirement community.  Originally built as a private boarding school for Terra Nova school in 1904, the site was purchased by the Liverpool School for the partially deaf in 1948 and used up until its closure…

After undertaking specialist building investigations over several years in the Kings Cross Quarter for Argent which started with the Old Granary Building in 2007 which has become the new Central Saint Martins, H+R have been coincidentally commissioned to survey the Lethaby Building in Holborn which was purpose built in 1908 for the original Central St Martins College of Art and Design Elsewhere the Southern office has been working on Electra House in the City of London on an overall de-risking…

Of interest in the month has been extensive work to the chapel within the active prison at HMP Wandsworth. Such work is very time consuming due to the environment and the unsurprising limits on the use of ladders and drones! More refreshing, but a challenge logistically, was having a large team on site at York House in Penzance for a week supporting a developer trying to refurbish a fire damaged building. More straightforward project work included a return to Kenwood…

More adventures for staff at the Southern office took place in the month with the first volunteer group exploring deep underground into the Dorking Caves, a complex of tunnels excavated into the sandstone as far back as the 16th century to serve a variety of purposes ranging from storage to meeting places for persecuted religious groups and secret societies. Coincidentally survey work started at the same time on twenty lock-up railway arches in Kilburn! Work was undertaken on many other…

The annual tradition of setting up the Christmas tree at Netley was more easily accomplished this year despite its height of 26 feet.  The process shares some similarities with the spectacle of the old Royal Tournament Field Gun Race for those of a certain age Part of the month was dedicated to preparation for new largescale heritage project work planned for early 2022 at the British Museum, Palace of Westminster and Manchester Art Gallery.  H+R’s increasing investigative consultancy work on…

Some team building activities occurred in the month including haymaking!  Two of the surveyor teams joined up to harvest the front lawn at Netley House.  The seed laced hay is then moved to a property belonging to the National Trust to help propagate a wild flower meadow Another connection with the National Trust was the appointment in the month to undertake a detailed timber condition survey and measured drawing of Alfriston ‘Clergy House’.  This is the very first property acquired…