April News at KPTA
- The starry night sky ceiling has been completed by Howell and Bellion at St. John the Baptist, Leytonstone, and makes a wonderful feature upon entering the church.
- The fabulous circular staircase has been fitted into the Rotunda.
- KPT and SMC were Finalists at the CEDIA 2012 Awards with our joint entry of a Home Cinema.
- The Chancellor of the Exchequer shocked us all with his announcement that VAT would be charged on alterations to Listed Buildings. This will affect all projects not completed by October, 2012.
- Chestnut lath has been competed on a Regency house.
- Bush End Church are seeing their oak cabinets going in for the new kitchen, and the oak staircase for the balcony has been inserted.
- The C15th Hall House in Uttlesford has had its oak crown post roof and rafters repaired by R J Hogg, where the rafters had pulled about from the plates, and a valley beam had to be repaired where it was rotten from water ingress. The new roofing insulation and handmade peg tiles are going back on.
- Works to a Country House in Suffolk have started on-site this month, with the removal of all the asbestos which was put in during the 1920s to lag all the plumbing pipes. We are about to start completely re-plumbing the house with Rose Builders.
- The building works at the Church of St Mary The Virgin, Radwinter started this month with Lodge and Sons Builders. This is our local village church, and one close to our heart. We are creating a new WC and Kitchenette in the Victorian Vestry. The vestry already contains some lovely cupboards by Temple Moore, the famous Victorian Architect, so we are going to compliment the simple flower carving on his cupboards with new carving details on our own panelling that will continue the floral theme perhaps with a crocus flower instead. The vestry already has some old delft tiles in the fireplace, so we are hoping to design some new hand painted delph tiles with scenes of the village. The rather less fun job of digging the drains and excavating the floor have commenced this month, but we have found an old vault outside, which was an exciting surprise!
- We reached Final Completion on the new brick indoor swimming-pool building near Dunmow. We’ll be taking photographs soon for you to see. The design complimented the adjacent Victorian stable-block with red brick and large oak and glazed doors which have heavy boarded shutter doors to the outside. We built a pitched oak glulam roof over the pool itself with a central glazed rooflight. The vaulted ceiling was then dotted with Swarovsky crystal lights, to create a spectacular night sky above.
- Finchingfield Guildhall is an immensely rewarding project on-site at the moment with Fairhurst Ward Abbott. The roof repairs have all been completed by Tony and his team with new straps where the tie beams have pulled away from the top plates, and oak slice repairs where the plate was rotten. The replacement of the 50s softwood frame with oak frame is taking shape. Most interestingly we found lots of old 15th and 17th century mullioned windows. The 15th century are of a scalloped design and the 17th century are ovolo moulded. We are reinstating all the oak mullioned windows we have physical evidence for, so the windows will reveal the different periods of build through their style and progression. They’ve also made up a sample plaster pargetting pattern which is the same as the Victorian photographs of the building we have in the archive. This will be used on the new lime plastered exterior, which replaces the cement render we removed.
- We’ve reached practical completion on the refurbished pool building, new orangery and basement cinema/games room in Chelmsford. This work was completed by Cubbitt Theobald Builders, and the new facilities to this elegant townhouse have provided the family with some really fun and enjoyable rooms, which have been designed to compliment the Georgian style of the house.
- Peter celebrated a rather special birthday at the start of this month.
- An early News Bulletin for May – KPT are very proud to announce we won the RICS East of England Awards 2012 Building Conservation for Spain Hall!
