The last 20 years has seen an upsurge in the repair and restoration of historic and traditional buildings.
Stone Restoration Services have the knowledge, skills and experience which are requisite key competencies in Stone Conservation and Restoration.
Conservation
Legislation
Knowledge of legislative and policy framework for the conservation of historic environment.
Ability to advise and guide with listed buildings, scheduled monuments etc.
Technology
Knowledge of all building construction of all periods, characteristics of structures and nature of building materials appropriate for repairs.
Ability to assess the condition of buildings, diagnose defects and recommend repair and/or maintenance.
History
Knowledge of historic environment including previous periods and cultures and historic buildings.
Economics
Familiar with contractual conservation works including the differing forms of VAT.
Familiar with principles of regeneration and the bodies responsible for it.
Design
Ability to design and communicate concepts in CAD/traditional drawing styles.
Practice
Familiar with the differing roles, responsibilities within the public, private and voluntary sectors and ability to negotiate effectively between these roles.
Stone Restoration Services have received a number of conservation awards:
Spitalfields
Eltham Orangery
St Mary’s Islington
Cropley Bowyer Memorial
Restoration
The scope of restoration depends upon the need, and other circumstances, such as the status of the building, and the affordability of the work required. There are three main types of restoration.
Building cleaning
Most especially cleaning the external facade of a building, and typically needed in cities that have suffered from smoke pollution. Many granite, sandstone, and limestone buildings in the UK, for example, have for most of their existence been black in colour owing to smoke and smog. Many, in turn, have been cleaned after air pollution legislation diminished the incidence of airborne dirt.
More on cleaning and repair »
Projects »
Major repair
Especially to stonework affected by acid rain and other pollutants, and which has weathered or decayed to a structurally unsound or aesthetically displeasing condition. Building restoration can refer to the action or process of accurately revealing, recovering or representing the state of a historic building, as it appeared at a particular period in its history, while protecting its heritage value. Work is often performed to reverse decay, or alterations made to the building after its initial construction.
Rebuilding
To replace severely damaged or missing parts of a building. Here, in all cases, a balance is to be struck between recreation of the original building using materials and techniques similar to the original construction.
