The posts for this blog are below. Click on "View Post" to read the full text of any post that interests you.
Brutalist building or Urban ballet? by Andy Marshall
Architectural photographer Andy Marshall has joined the debate around the controversial 1960's Preston Bus Station which has recently been listed as a monument at risk by the World Monuments Fund.
As is usual Andy's response is highly visual....
The Urban Ballet of Preston...
Selectaglaze at St. Pancras Chambers by Selectaglaze
An ideal location, especially if you are a rail enthusiast with a fascination for quirky architecture, can be found at one of London’s latest apartment conversions. Originally part St. Pancr...
Heritage Skills Level Three Solid and Fibrous Plastering by E.I. Flood and Sons
E I Flood and Sons is an approved centre to deliver the Heritage Skills Level 3 Solid & Fibrous Plastering (Specialist Apprenticeship Programme.)
Established in 1959 and with over 48 years experience in the industry, working on projects for The National Trust, CADW...
Ellen Leslie to speak at National Home Improvement Show by ProjectBook
The popular home improvement show is nearly upon us again at Earls Court. The event is one of the UK’s foremost events for home improvement and development and brings together a whole host of suppliers,...
See insulating glazing in a new light with Histoglass MONO by Histoglass
Thin Double Glazing is great, but what if it can’t be fitted into small rebates?
Histoglass continues to make sustainable heritage possible with intelligently designed products. What if you have rebates so narrow they cannot hide the edge seal (sight line) of thin double glazed...
New Heritage Skills NVQ Level 3 Diploma in Heritage Roofing Course by Fildes Roofing
HERITAGE SKILLS NVQ LEVEL 3 DIPLOMA
SPECIALIST APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAMME (SAP) in ROOFING
South Coast Roof Training will be starting a second Heritage Skills NVQ Level 3 Diploma Specialist Apprenticeship Program (SAP) in Roofing beginning on 17th November.
Th...
Residence of a Tudor admiral receives the Selectaglaze treatment by Selectaglaze
Some 5 miles from Tenterden is the picturesque village of Biddenden in the heart of Kent. Once the centre of the Wealden iron industry it is now probably better known now for its Biddenden’s Cider or the Biddenden Maids – conjoined sisters Elisa and Mary Chulkhurst who, upon their deaths i...
Overlooking London’s Regents Park, this historic terrace of magnificent Grade 1 Listed Regency properties - formerly the headquarters of British Land – has been fully restored and converted back for residential use. Reconfigured to form eight “stately homes” overlooking the Park’...
Clarke Roofing Southern wins prestigious awards by Clarke Roofing
Clarke Roofing Southern wins two highest awards nationwide for health and safety and Tiling/slating category
The NFRC 2011 awards took place at the Brighton Hilton Metropole.
Gold was awarded for the highest marks received Nationwide in Health and Safety showing co...
Recclesia Awarded Flagship Manchester Contract by Jamie Moore
Recclesia has been awarded the contract to carry out specialist conservation work to four hundred stained and leaded glass windows as part of the £90M Manche...
Conservation of the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, Bishops Lydeard by Sally Strachey Conservation
The 15th Century Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, Bishops Lydeard, has just undergone a £240,000 programme of conservation to safeguard the future of fabric of the building and to reinstate the f...
Local Blacksmiths wins ‘Best at Show’ at The Great Yorkshire Show by Chris Topp & Co
Chris Topp & Co won a 1st, two 2nd’s, a 3rd and was awarded the 'Champion' of the show and also a ‘Special’ award in the metalwork competition at this year's Yorkshire Show - July 2011.
There were ...
For the last eight months, North Yorkshire blacksmith company, Chris Topp & Co, have been creating decorative and intricate ironwork items for Scotland‘s Stirling Castle as part of its £12 million restoration.
...
First of eight student’s joins local company for heritage blacksmith training by Chris Topp
Chris Topp & Co Ltd based at Carlton Husthwaite and Tholthorpe in North Yorkshire have their first student working with them, Alexander Coode is one of eight students taking part in The National Heritage Ir...
Empty Property Rates Relief Cut – Return to Bombsite Britain? by DMH Stallard
The Government has announced that from 1 April 2011 the empty property rates threshold will revert to £2,600 from the current level of £18,000. This will be a matter of concern for commercial property owners who have any empty p...
New Energy Conservation Guidance Notes and Product Guide from Selectaglaze by Selectaglaze
Selectaglaze, the UK’s leading secondary glazing specialist has launched a new Guidance Note on the ability of secondary glazing to improve a building’s energy performance. This will be of great interest to all B...
Living in History captures English homes through time in a clear, well presented and artistic way, representing all that is good about English architecture through history. The book looks at a variety of interesting English bui...
Cast Iron Radiators, Recapturing Yesterday, Today by Paladin Radiators
It is not so many years ago that the cast iron radiator was ripped from the hearts of our homes and replaced with its dull and boring modern counterpart in the steel variety, ca...
Late Victorian Encaustic and Geometric Tiled Floor Restoration by Steve Sinnott
The above floor consisted of a small porch at an angle to the main floor, the porch floor was in good to fair condition some damage had occurred through movement. The porch had shifted o...
Television programme filmed at North Yorkshire Blacksmith’s workshop by Chris Topp
Blink Films filmed at our workshop for a documentary about the Eiffel Tower called ‘Monumental Challenge’.
The Eiffel Tower has undergone a restoration programme, the first major works since the tower was built in 1889. It was built by Gustave Eiffel for the 1889 Exposition Universell...
Titanic Survivor’s Port Sunlight Home Restored by Recclesia
Port Sunlight on the Wirral Peninsula is the charming planned village created by the Lever Brothers in 1888 for the workers in their giant soap factory. The village was named after their best selling soap brand, Sunlight and Lever personally helped to plan the village with the help of thirty differe...
Chris Topp and Co hosts Heritage Group at their workshop by Chris Topp
Chris Topp & Co are well known in the restoration world for restoring ancient ironwork and they recently hosted a morning workshop for architects and conservation officers as part of a three day course run by the National Ironwork Heritage Group – NHIG, that was based at the Kings Manor in Yor...
Streete Court – Conversion and Extension of 18th Century Building to New Hotel by DMH Stallard
In January 2011 DMH Stallard Planning secured planning and listed building consent for the restoration, conversion and extension of Streete Court, a former country house to form a 73 bedroom golf hotel with leisure and spa facilities.
Streete Court is a Grade II Listed Buil...
Phil Harding of Time Team filmed at North Yorkshire blacksmith company by Chris Topp
Chris Topp & Co were asked to make a replica cannon muzzle to help show that local blacksmiths in the late 1400’s could have easily adapted their skills from producing cart wheels to making the staves fo...
The restoration of Hopton Castle by Conservation Building Services Ltd
Difficult access, sensitive archaeology, auto-destructing building material, and an unusually sophisticated loo! Hopton Castle reveals its secrets.
Williams Pen and ink wash Circa 1777
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South Coast Roof Training Open day by South Coast Roof Training
South Coast Roof Training Ltd, based in Littlehampton, West Sussex, is the only dedicated roof training facility in the south and offers a full range of training programmes.
The centre i...
English Heritage have published for consultation a draft Good Practice Guide under the above title. The deadline for consultation responses is 13th May 2011.
The introduction to the Draft Guidance emphasises the importance of local listing for communities who can use the process:
“…...
Honour for north Yorkshire blacksmith by Chris Topp
Chris Topp and company commissioned to create large ecclesiastical screen at 900 year old Ely Cathedral
Chris Topp & Company has the distinction of being the only blacksmith company in the world today still rolling and supplying genuine wrought iron.
...
Paladin Radiators Launch Three New Cast Iron Radiators by Paladin Radiators
As a market leader for a stunning range of cast iron radiators in the UK we here at Paladin Radiators are always keen to bring the consumer more choice when it comes to traditional cast iron r...
Grosvenor Construction Ltd, who are specialists in historic building conservation, have bucked the recessionary trend with their move to new premises on a one acre site.
The site allows for Grosvenor’s Masonry Division to expand and stock top quality quarry block carefully ...
Installation at the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel by ECA Lifts
Enhancing access to listed and historic buildings has always been a problem, taking into account the special character that makes such building’s unique. Enabling access for disabled people and conserving the special character of a building may require a fine balancing act which requires...
Secondary Glazing - Combating Intrusive Noise by Selectaglaze
Intrusive noise is a real problem in today’s society and failure to deal with it can lead to loss of sleep, lapses in concentration and increased levels of stress that can affect general health.
Noise emanates from a multitude ...
Building Conservation: The new NVQ 3 Heritage Roofing Course by James Mott
This week I was invited to visit the South Coast Roof Training facility, by the founder Mike Fildes. The centre is piloting the new NVQ level 3 course in heritage roofing, the first of its type in the UK. The centre has been impressively kitted out with a wide variety of different rigs to ...
St Mary’s Church Eardisland – East Window Conservation Project by Jamie Moore of Recclesia
St. Mary's Church in Eardisland, Herefordshire, is noted as being one of the most outstanding buildings in the county and is Grade I listed, being of national significance. There is certainly no questioning the antiquity of the building. The Nave was built in the 1100s and the Tower and Chancel foll...
The Restoration of Joseph Paxton’s Fernery at Tatton Park by Recclesia
In 1850 William Tatton Egerton employed Joseph Paxton, the creator of Crystal Palace, to design a Fernery and an Italian Garden for Tatton Park. The mature gardens that we see there today are the result of his work and are
...
The William Morris Tree of Life Window by Recclesia
Recclesia’s Stained Glass Studio is well known for its stained glass expertise, so when one of the most unusual stained glass windows in North Wales needed examining we were the first to be called upon. The William Morris Tree of Life window in the Stanley Chapel at St Cybi’s Church in...
Ancient Chapel Site Rescued by Recclesia by Jamie Moore
If English Heritage had existed in the 1700s, Wervin Chapel would almost certainly have been on the at risk register even then. Having stood since before the 1200s as a chapel of ease to the Abbey of St Werburgh’s in Chester, the chapel was deconsecrated in the eighteenth century and...
Paladin Radiators Launch The Canterbury TRV Valve by Paladin Radiators
Paladin has successfully launched a new thermostatic traditional valve at the Real Homes Show Earls Court.
Paladin Radiators certainly did steal the show at the recent Real Home...
Building Conservation: Snowdonia 1890 by Grosvenor Construction
You can probably imagine, that a construction company dedicated to the historic environment will come across many unusual 'finds', 'happenings', and 'events'.
For example, we recently found an ornately carved timber, re-set as a purlin within the void of an ancient church. On another ...
Seminar review - PPS5 Planning for the historic environment by DMH Stallard
On 14 September we ran a seminar on the new PPS in Brighton.
The speakers were Mike Harlow, Legal Director of English Heritage, Roger Dowty, Conservation Manager Brighton and Hove City Council, Tony Allen, Chris Barker and Huw James, ...
Designing and producing single pieces of furniture at Royal Palaces the world over, to extensively re-fitting the lavish interiors at some of Britain’s best known buildings; Houses of Parliament, Eltham Palace, Dover Castle or modern contemporary interiors such as the David Wilson Librar...
Claire Danthois to exhibit at Robert Mills by Robert Mills Architectural Antiques
Bristol artist Claire Danthois is at the forefront of the sustainable design movement and expresses her personal belief in environmental responsibility through the creation of provocative, functional sculptures built exclusively...
Student of the Year Award goes to Heritage Decorating apprentice by Devereux Decorators
Chris Ryder with his trophies
A Leicestershire student is celebrating being named as Student of the Year at the Young Apprenticeship Awards held by Leices...
The heritage industry is one of the most important sectors in Britain. Cultural heritage tourism has exploded over the past decade. Our built heritage is at the priviliged and unique position of providing us with a glimpse of our past and allowing us to link up with our forebears.
Its...
The Revolver table straddles the wide gulf between furniture and art.
If furniture is not art because it offers a practical solution, then the unique articulation of this table, which sees it transform into a sculpture, confuses the issue. Is it a table that becomes art, or a piece of sc...
The Palace of Westminster – Furniture Contract for the Parliamentary Estate by NEJ Stevenson
Following competitive tender, Rugby based bespoke furniture maker, N E J Stevenson Ltd has been appointed by the Palace of Westminster to provide replacement and new furniture, and a range of specialist joinery services for all its properties which include the House of Commons and the House...
Chris Topp and Co wins a competition by Chris Topp
Southwold in Suffolk has recently unveiled a new town sign made by local architectural metalworkers Chris Topp & Co, who have workshops in Carlton Husthwaite and Tholthorpe, following an open competi...
Yiangou Architects LLP wins RIBA Award by Yiangou Architects LLP
A contemporary pool building designed by established architectural practice Yiangou Architects LLP is one of three Oxfordshire winners of a RIBA Award in the South Region. A total of 102 awards have been presented for projects across the UK and Europe ranging from public schools and m...
Martin Ashley Architects wins Building Conservation Award by Martin Ashley Architects
The restoration of St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle has won South East Region 'Building Conservation Award', and 'Overall Runner Up for Regional Project of the Year' in the RICS 2010 Awards Sc...
Thirlwall Associates Nominated for Award by Thirlwall Associates
The Harrow Architectural and Environmental Awards 2010 is a biennial award run by the Harrow Heritage Trust in conjunction the London Borough of Harrow. One of this year's nominations was the River ...
Crittall Windows receives Prestigious Queens Award by Russell Ager
Britain’s leading steel window manufacturer has received the prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade.
Crittall Windows has received the award in recognition of its export achievements in the notoriously difficult
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