January News

Beautifully transformed though the countryside was with frost and snow this month, it did not make for good travelling, but we are happy to say that all the team made it through every day, both to work and to appointments, albeit with a few delays and late starts.  So much do we enjoy our work that even the floods after the snow did not deter us!

• The on-site works to the C.16^th Hall House and Court Barn in Essex, with R J Hogg & Sons are progressing well.  In the Court Barn, all modern partitions and the concrete floor have now been removed.  New breathable floors have been laid.  All the modern cement infill has been stripped out.  Insulation of the timber frame wall has begun.  The roof has been stripped with new oak sprockets added, and insulation laid over the top of the rafters, in order to keep them exposed internally.  On the roof, the peg tiles are now being replaced .
•     We are working on two Grade II Listed former rectories in Hertfordshire.  Both are historically very exciting properties.  Coincidentally, both are also currently undergoing the Planning process.                                                                                                                      We are investigating Alternative Energy Sources with the owners of one of the former rectories.  This is of great interest to us, as the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) for domestic use is coming into action in the summer this year.  
•  On 29^th January, members of KPT attended a most interesting and informative CPD lecture on RHI, given by Eco Living http://www.ecolivinguk.com/                                        The RHI is a Government scheme to encourage the uptake of renewable heat technologies among householders, and is expected to lower greenhouse gas emissions, and, ultimately, the householder’s carbon footprint.  More information on RHI can be found on https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/increasing-the-use-of-low-carbon-technologies/supporting-pages/renewable-heat-incentive-rhi                                             
       The Interior Design fitting out and building works at the Grade II listed Regency house in Essex is nearing completion.   We are currently preparing a landscaping scheme for this lovely property; therefore, we are hoping the weather stays warm enabling this work to progress very shortly.
•  Drawings are underway to combine existing historic shelving and new, bespoke furniture for a beautiful but compact library at Finchingfield Guildhall.
•  Pre-application advice has been sought to reinstate a C.17^th Farmhouse in Essex back to its true, former status, as the ‘farmhouse’ of the estate, rather than disappearing amongst the other weather-boarded farm buildings, as it currently does.
•  Drawings for works to the lovely Grade II* Farmhouse in Hertfordshire are now complete, and have been submitted for Planning Permission and Listed Building Consent.
• Planning Permission and Listed Building Consent has been received for the conversion of a Georgian flint outbuilding into a home office at a local Grade II Farmhouse.
• Landscaping drawings for pricing are continuing to be drawn up for the important Late Medieval Grade I Listed Country House in Suffolk, where conservation and restoration work continues by Rose Builders.
•  Professional photography will soon be carried out at the church of All Saints, Great Chesterford; the church of St. Mary the Virgin, Radwinter; and at the church of St. John the Baptist, Leytonstone; so do keep watching our website for these exciting photographs to appear very shortly.
• Church Builders Lodge and Sons are on-site with us at Little Baddow Church, where tiling of the roof has now started.  Good news in that no timber repairs were required on the Nave.
•     Works on-site to The Gatehouse at Pleshey House of Retreat, with Byfords of Dunmow, is nearing completion.

November/December News

Some members of staff attended Saffron-Walden firework display, which was, if possible, even more fantastic than in previous years!   The November fogs and snow, and the December frosts thankfully did not last very long, and didn’t cause too much disruption. 

Listed below are just a few of the things we’ve been up to during November and December. 

• We are currently consulting English Heritage and North Herts over the extension to a beautiful Grade II* Elizabethan/Jacobean Farmhouse in Hertfordshire and for the conversion of a Grade II listed Brewhouse to a workshop.
• We have submitted an application for Listed Building Consent and Planning Permission to Uttlesford District Council for the conversion of a Georgian flint outbuilding into a home office at a local Grade II Farmhouse.
• Huntingdon District Council’s introduction of the Community Infrastructures Levy is causing a stir.  A charge is payable on ALL new builds and larger extensions to houses. Applicants will now have to pay a charge to the District Council and the charge amount is set by the scale of the new house or extension. Only a few Councils have currently taken up the levy but more are expected to follow suit.  Check out more on
  https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/giving-communities-more-power-in-planning-local-development/supporting-pages/community-infrastructure-levy
  
• The on-site works to the C16^th Hall House/court barn in Essex, with R J Hogg & Sons are busy and we are currently producing all the finishes and fitting schedules.
• The on-site works at the important Late Medieval Grade I Listed Country House in Suffolk by Rose Builders are going well. Excavation of the new Wood Chip Store floor has begun.  The new stone floors are now laid and looking fabulous in the Great Hall and the bathrooms.  Works to the roof are underway to the new extension.  
• On-site building works to the new WC and wash-up cupboard in the Vestry at Radwinter Church are almost finished by Lodge and Sons Builders.
• Church Builders Lodge and Sons are also on-site with us at Little Baddow Church doing essential roof repairs. The roof has now been stripped, and work has started on the timber repairs.
• On-site Works at Widdington Church are going nicely with R J Pinnock, we’ve discovered some old, coloured paintwork and the Donavon and his team at P&D decorator’s has conserved a nice Early English window, with decorative painted carvings.
• We are currently on-site at Pleshey House of Retreat with Byfords of Dunmow, who are carrying out work to provide five new En-suite shower rooms to their guest rooms.
• Building Work at the Rotunda is at an exciting stage, as the light fittings have been mounted, the external circular paving is now completed and overall finishing off is nearing completion.
• The Interior Design fitting out and building works at the Grade II listed Regency house in Essex is having the finishing touch. The old outbuilding are currently undergoing transformation into ancillary accommodate.  Air source heat pumps are being commissioned, which will provide all the heating and hot water to the house.  The Interior fitting out is now happening with the new KPT designed kitchen installed and the final curtains going up.
• Concept Design Proposal designs for a Kitchen extension to a Grade II listed Georgian, double pile former Rectory, are now with the client for their perusal. 
• On another Former Rectory, this one being Regency, we have started the concept design for internal alterations to create a new large Kitchen/Dining room in the service wing. 
• A local Grade II listed barn conversion is turning into a very exciting project, with Phase 2 of the Concept Design Drawings under way.  The owner is a well know furniture designer and manufacturer design and his approach  is for an honest conversion of the barn, so the C17th barn retains its agricultural aesthetic with very modern alterations, so the new and old juxtapose. The older medieval barn attached will be faithfully conversed using traditional materials and techniques. 
• On-site with Fairhurst Ward Abbotts at Finchingfield Guildhall, the Archaeology is almost complete. We are currently starting all the limewash decorations and the historic paintwork in the Guildroom has been conserved with a paraloid resin by specialists Hare and Humphreys. All the wide plank doors are arriving on-site for hanging.
• The Diocesan Advisory Committee have given us the thumbs up at Galleywood Church , where for Phase 1, it is proposed to relocate the organ to a new balcony at the rear and create a new youth room in the North transept. Phase 2 will be a new extension to the North aisle of the church to create a new hall, Kitchen and ancillary rooms for the wonderfully active and vibrant church.
• We held our Christmas lunch at the Eight Bells in Saffron Walden and secret Santa was good to everyone this year especially Peter, who got a book on the history of English Pub names, which, for a bunch of history boffins is unputdownable.
• Finally, we would like to wish all our wonderful Clients, Builders and Consultants a brilliant Christmas and a very Happy New Year. We’re looking forward to working with you all in 2013 and seeing building works progress/complete and starting some exciting new projects!  

October News

Autumn and the dark evenings are now fully upon us.  Trees and hedges look resplendent in their fantastic, fiery colours. Although there are still a few blackberries and sloes hiding in the hedgerows, there has been a distinct chill in the air on a few occasions, and, therefore, we must count our blessings for all this sunshine and dry weather!

As usual, we’ve had a busy month, and this is just a taste of what we’ve been up to. 

•          At the C16^th Hall House in Essex, with R J Hogg & Sons The second coat of lime render has gone on and is now wrapped up for the winter to protect it against the frost.  New windows have been inserted and new French doors are currently going in.   First fix plumbing has begun.
  ·         The roof of the C16^th Court Barn has been stripped.  We were fearful of what might be found, but have been pleasantly surprised by its relatively good condition.  The roof is currently being repaired.
  ·         At Finchingfield Guildhall, Sibyl gave a talk and walk around Finchingfield  Guildhall to local residents,  trustees and some local Politicians, to explain all the works that have been taking place over the last couple of months. Everyone scrabbled over the scaffolding, and up and down ladders to view the plastering, daubing and new mullioned windows.     
        We also had a visit from the National Trust, who wanted to have a look round and see what we were doing.
        The oak Plank and muntin wall has been constructed 
        The oriel window oak mullions and apron has been installed and is ready for the leaded lights.
        The pargetting is nearing completion. Paul and his team have done a wonderful job re-creating the C19^th chevron and sawn pattern we discovered in old photographs in the records office.  The scaffold is now partially down, so people are starting to get a glimpse of what it looks like.
       The limewash going on is made by local hero Ted Ingilby, using 2 coats of casein limewash and 1 coat of tallow limewash.
        Another local legend, Mark Atkinson from Essex Archaeology Unit, has been kept busy; dusting, scraping, drawing and recording all the archaeological finds during the groundworks, and is producing some exceptional sketches.
  ·         The contemporary glazed extension to the important Grade I Listed Country House in Suffolk is growing out of the ground, with the steel frame and masonry already constructed.  The new joinery within the existing house is all being bespoke made, and is due for delivery.   Casting of the slab for the new Breakfast Room is taking place.  A new limestone floor is being laid in the Great Hall.  Underpinning has begun for the new wood chip store.
  ·         At The Retreat House, Pleshey, working drawings continue this month, with kitchen layout, bathrooms and en-suites, roof detail, floor build-up and setting out almost ready for issue. 
  ·         In Huntingdonshire, our client been granted Planning Permission for an oak framed extension to a Grade II Listed, C17th Lobby Entrance house, and also for conversion of a little barn within the curtilage of the house. 
  ·         At Radwinter Church, the Delft-type tiles, (made especially for us by Douglas Watson Studio) depicting scenes of Radwinter, were carefully positioned around the sink in the new kitchenette.
  ·         The new kitchenette and toilet were unveiled at Radwinter Friends Day, 21^st October.
  ·         We met the DAC advisers at Galleywood Church this month to discuss the best location within the building for their organ.
  ·         The wonderful wallpapers are being put up at the Regency house in Essex, one is called Saffron Walden Tracery by Zoffany, and is based on an original Elizabethan anticknework scrolling design found inside a house in local town Saffron Walden. The new regency staircase has been fitted and the window shutters are hung on the sashes. The rooms are now taking shape with the second fix and decorations filling the house with colour and light ready for Christmas!
  ·         Concept Design drawings continue for the conversion of a little flint and brick outbuilding into a studio/office, with attached glasshouse adjacent to a beautiful C17th house in Essex.
  ·         Concept Design Drawings for a Farmhouse in the Lea Valley are complete which has reinstated the original features of lobby entrance  house and a new two-storey wing replacing an 80s extension echoing the design. The laundry outhouse has been connected and converted into a Kitchen.
  ·         At the beautiful Grade II Listed Arts and Crafts house in Essex, Concept Design drawings are complete for a Kitchen/breakfast room extension, incorporating timber details from this decorative house originally designed by famous Architect George Sherrin.
  ·         Concept Design drawings have commenced for the conversion of a large C17-18^th barn into a studio, showroom and workshop for a prestigious English furniture Designer & Manufacturer. The barn will incorporate modern glazing details and the oak frame skeleton will be stripped bare and exposed throughout. There is a very old C15th barn adjacent which will be separate and original elements restored such as its mullioned window, daub and crown post roof reinstated.
  ·         Concept Design drawings are nearly complete for the extension to an elegant Grade II* brick country house in Hertfordshire. The extension incorporates decorative brick noggin work picking up on details found on the house.
  ·         Lodge and Sons have started works at Grade II Listed Little Baddow Church, where they have lifted the stone slabs off the floor of the tower, and also started to construct a new kitchenette and WC, and a new balcony floor which goes up to the ringing chamber.
  ·         KPT’s entry of Spains Hall was shortlisted in the RICS Grand Finals Awards, 2012.  Kay, Sibyl, Peter and Nicola attended the presentation luncheon at The Savoy Hotel in London on 19^th October.
  ·         Kay and Peter attended the annual conference of Architects Accredited in Building Conservation, which was held in a restored tobacco factory. The theme of the conference was closer collaboration between building conservation accredited architects, surveyors and engineers. The conference was followed by the AGM of Architects Accredited in Building Conservation.
  ·         Monica organised an Office Outing to Warner Textiles, in Braintree.  This was a most pleasant and informative tour, where we gained an insight into the dyeing and pattern designs of silk and other textiles, ranging over two centuries, including ‘C19^th elegance and C20^th flair’.  We were shown how these textiles were used for furnishing and wallcovering, as well as for dressmaking.  Among the most impressive textiles were those used in the wedding trousseau of Princess May, who, upon marrying King George, became Queen Mary.  www.warnertextilearchive.co.uk/
  
  
  
  
  

September News

We are lucky enough to be completely surrounded by agricultural fields in our barn office in Essex and September has brought the end of a busy harvest, with the tractors working through the night and fields already ploughed and harrowed. Some of us at KPT took the opportunity to pop out and gather some blackberries and damsons to make a few bottles of a little something, to keep out the cold in the long winter months ahead, hic!

Here’s what else we’ve been keeping busy doing this month.

• Lime plastering is progressing well at the C16th Hall House in Essex, with R J Hogg & Sons. The scratch coat is on and calcifying. They are forming the internal partitions and repair the internal walls with first fix going in. The moat, which is an Ancient Scheduled Monument, has been carefully excavated under the guidance of Archaeology and the ground works are in full swing!
Construction Drawings are being undertaken for the repair and alteration works to the C16th Court Barn attached to the house. The scaffolding and ‘tin hat’ is up and over the Court Barn ready for the repairs and re-roofing to begin next month.
• At The Retreat House, Pleshey, Construction Drawings for new en-suite bathrooms for 6 of the bedrooms, and a new wheelchair access shower room for another bedroom are progressing well. The next phase will be the Construction Drawings for a new Meeting Room, which has been designed with a ‘green’ roof of sedum plants. Work is expected to begin on site before the end of the year.
• The PCC at Bush End Church are very pleased with their new Kitchenette, WC and balcony. If you are in the area, please do pop in to have a look. The Church is opposite Hatfield Forest entrance.
• At Radwinter Church, the new WC and Kitchen in the North Vestry are being fitted. The panelling with floral carving details is being fitted. The works will be completed by the end of October, in time for Radwinter Friends Day where they will be unveiling their new facilities.
• Roof Repairs are due to start soon to Little Baddow Church, with scaffolding to be erected during October. We are waiting for the appropriate timing to ensure no bats are present.
• Concept Design drawings are underway for conversion of a little flint and brick outbuilding into a studio/office, adjacent to a beautiful C17th house in Essex.
• We are to meet the DAC advisers at Galleywood Church this month to discuss the best location within the building for their organ.
• Concept Drawings for a Farmhouse in the Lea Valley are nearly complete, with the original features of the house re-instated, and a new two-storey wing replacing an 80s extension.
• The lime plaster at Finchingfield Guildhall is having its pargetting pattern applied. This is pattern being re-done as seen in old photographs. Plaster moulds where taken from a local building which has some original pargetting in the pattern. These are in a variety of sizes, and some are curved to take account of the un-level walls. The pattern is vertical chevron, with horizontal marks made by a wood horse comb. The whole process has been filmed and will be available shortly to see. We had a visit from Heritage Lottery, who are extremely pleased with the conservation work taking place there with KPT & Fairhurst Ward Abbott.
• Construction works to a Grade I Country House in Suffolk are progressing well. Works to the new purpose made woodchip store building have started, which will heat the house sustainably from wood on the Estate. Foundations have been laid for a new Morning Room extension to the existing service wing, and the structural opening up of the Kitchen is complete.
• At the beautiful Grade II Listed Arts and Crafts house in Essex, Concept Design drawings continue for a kitchen/breakfast room extension, incorporating timber details from this decorative house originally designed by famous Architect George Sherrin.
• Whilst Sibyl and Sarah were carrying out the survey of a barn, thought to date to the C17-18th, which sits within the grounds of a Grade II Listed Farmhouse, they made an exciting discovery! Up on the first floor, they found evidence of mullioned windows with shutter rebates, wattle and daub frame grooves and the peg hole on-top of the tie beam indicating it had a crown post. This all signifies that the smaller structure is in fact a lot older that first thought; more like circa 1550, or even older, and was probably built at a similar date to the Hall House.
• Building works to convert the old stables to ancillary accommodation continue at the Grade II Listed former public house in Essex under the guidance of G Illife & Sons. New terracing is being carried out within the grounds and the interiors are ready for decorating, with the bathroom refurbishments nearly complete.
• Works are booked in to start in early October at The Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Widdington, with R J Pinnock, who will be building for us a new oak screen in the tower, behind which will be new Kitchen and WC facilities.
• Works to Sibyl’s Grade II Listed Farmhouse, with Downham and Manser, are nearly complete. The house has had new plumbing, expertly installed throughout by A&B (Thaxted) Plumbers, with traditional cast iron radiator. This should make a huge difference to this C17th house which has never had central heating before. The Kitchen has a new breathable floor, with underfloor heating and all the plates and stud feet have been repaired, using conservation techniques.
• The Construction Drawings are due to commence on the highly significant Ancient Scheduled Monument site of Colville Hall. It has an astounding collection of Grade I & Grade II* listed barns and Courthouses, which date back to the C12th, and will be adapted and repaired to create a beautiful countryside wedding venue.
• On Sunday, 16th September, Nicola, dressed in pink hair-band with wobbly hearts, fairy wings and tutu, ran the 10k Race for Life, at Chelmsford Hylands Park, to raise funds for Cancer Research UK. She completed in an hour, and Sarah was there to witness the event! Nicola says a big thank you to all who sponsored her.

August News

The Olympic and Paralympics Games have made very exciting viewing.  Some of us at KPT were lucky enough to go to the Athletics and see stars like Usain Bolt and many of Team GB win plenty of gold medals!

Summer is always a busy time at KPTA and here’s what we’ve been up to in August:

·         We have received Planning Permission, Listed Building approval and Scheduled Monument consent for works to be sympathetically carried out to probably the most significant group of farm buildings in the East of England at Colville Hall, White Roding.  The buildings within its curtilage are most impressive; a Grade I Courthouse, a Grade I barn of eight bays dating to the C12th, a Grade II* granary, a Grade II* Byre, a Grade II* barn of five bays, a Grade II cart lodge and, as well as all these, a Grade I Tudor gateway – and all sitting on a 12th century Scheduled Ancient Monument. 

      Our clients have brilliantly battled through the complex planning process to ensure that these significant buildings are saved and safeguarded for the future, by receiving approval to use them as a beautiful wedding venue and accommodation. The use they have chosen is ideal for the lovely barns because they can be used without any new floors or partitions and will, therefore, be enjoyed for their beautiful and majestic spaces – hopefully for many generations to come.

      The site was an extremely sensitive one, being in the Green Belt and accessed via a narrow country lane. It is for this that they received so many objectors. But the clients are a remarkable couple and have agreed to build a new access road to the site, plant a new wood and include some sophisticated noise control systems in order to reduce any impact from the proposal.We all look forward to seeing these beautiful buildings being brought back to life again and saved by this ambitious project.

·         The complete interior design and 1 ½ storey extension of the late C16th Grade II former Watermill in Suffolk are now complete. Photos are soon to appear on our website under domestic projects. 

·         At the Grade II * C16th brick and timber framed Hall house in Hertfordshire, sketch designs continue for a single storey extension and alterations to a barn. 

·         The design to a Farmhouse in the Lea Valley continues.  We are looking to reinstate the original lobby entrance elements of the house and former features, such as the large decorative chimney tops, and to replace the existing modern wing with a complimentary one. The old washhouse is also being linked to the house, to create a Kitchen and Breakfast Room.

·         The restoration of Finchingfield Guildhall continues. The sheepswool insulation has been inserted and oak laths applied, with the lime hair plaster scratch and pricking coats going on now. The electric first fix is going well and the reinstated C15th mullioned windows are nearly all in, so now the building is beginning to look as it did in the C15th once again. 

·         Breakfast Room drawings and joinery details continue for works to the Grade I Country House in Suffolk, and the works on-site to open up the Kitchen are going nicely.

·         At the Grade II Listed former public house in Essex the joinery is well under way with the new staircase in and the shutters being fitted. The bathroom fitting is almost finished. The kitchen for the annexe has been chosen and the conversion works to the barn annexe have begun.

·         While on-site at the Hall house in Essex we uncovered a water well, which pre-dates the kitchen, and is therefore thought to date from C15^th.  We are currently investigating the walls of the well known as “steining” to see if they can be exposed. The electrical first fix is well under way.  New sheepswool insulation has been inserted; and laths are being fixed, ready for the new lime hair plaster render.  Scheduled Monument Consent and Listed Building Consent has been given for further works to be undertaken on the moat.

·         The Retreat House, Pleshey is a popular place for clergy and lay-people to go for a week or a few days of contemplation and prayer. The facilities need improving and KPTA have been working with the Diocese to upgrade them.
Once a convent, the early farmhouse was extended in the Edwardian era by the Mother Superior’s brother, an architect of the time. Planning and Listed building approval was gained last year for 26 bedrooms with en-suite shower rooms, including improved wheelchair access and a new loggia meeting room.
The Diocese have been raising funds for this work to be carried out, and we have now been commissioned to prepare the detailed working drawings for the first phase of the work to the Gatehouse.

·         Bush End Church is now at Practical Completion and looking beautiful once more. Their new Kitchenette, WC and balcony are already proving most useful to this church, which has an enviable position opposite the National Trusts Hatfield Heath.

·         At Radwinter Church, scenes of Radwinter, for the new Diamond Jubilee Delft Tiles, have been chosen and are being made by Watson Studio.  Local specialists Auravisions have expertly converted one of the stained-glass windows to an opening casement; and the panelling for the WC and Kitchenette are being constructed by Lodge and Sons Builders, and are based on original panelling in the Vestry by C19th Architect Temple Moore, but with a new Saffron crocus carving.

·         Roof Repairs are due to start soon to Little Baddow Church, we are just waiting for the appropriate timing to ensure no bats are present.

·         We are currently drawing the existing structure plans and elevations of a large timber framed granary and single aisle barn in Essex, which is to be converted to a workshop studio.

·         A little flint and brick outbuilding, which was thought to have been the old washhouse to a beautiful C17th house, has been measured and drawn up, as it is to be used as a home study/office.      

·         We are soon due to meet the DAC advisers at Galleywood Church to discuss the best location for their organ within the building.

·         We are progressing the design for a new Breakfast Room to a beautiful listed arts and crafts house design by the well-known Architect George Sherrin in Essex. The Conservation Officer is happy with the proposal, and we are incorporating lovely features from the house such as an arched timber overhang.   

·         The Planning application is in for a new timber framed stable-block in a local village, and the bat report is complete. 

·         Finally our Director Sibyl is undertaking works to her own Grade II Listed Farmhouse. The frame has been repaired with new oak plates and new tennon repairs to the studs. A new brick plinth has been built using Colliers handmade bricks, and a breather perimeter floor is now down replacing the impervious concrete floor which was causing damp. She found an original doorway on the front of the house, which is to be reinstated to the front garden. The exposed timber-frame is also being insulated to reduce carbon emissions.

July News

• When the 204 individual copper petals were all united, lit and raised to form the Cauldron at the Olympic Games 2012 opening ceremony, what a spectacle of truly fabulous design it was to behold!  All of us at KPT will be following the Olympics, and Paralympics and willing Team GB to win lots of medals.
• At the 15^th Century Hall House in Essex, scaffold has been erected.  As render has been removed, excitingly large beams and mid rail have been exposed. The removal of the cement render has revealed that the house originally had two jettied gables, which must have been underbuilt as flush gables in the Georgian/Victorian period. We’ve also discovered an old C 18^th doorway in the brickwork, with a rubbed and gauged header 
• Working drawings are being produced for the main staircase of the Court Barn.
• The restoration of Finchingfield Guildhall continues with wattle and daub being exposed: The original daub was laboratory analysed in order to ensure that the new daub will be an authentic mix.  The ingredients are clay, chalk, fine quartz sand, lime and a lot of chopped straw. This is thoroughly mixed and then thrown and smoothed by hand.
• The design stage for works to a beautiful brick and timber framed Grade II* farmhouse in North Herts are progressing well.
• Planning Permission, with Restricted Use (ie affiliated with an equestrian business), has been granted for a new-build family house in the style of a timber framed barn in Huntingdonshire.
• Glazing in the Bell Tower at Grade I Listed St. Andrew’s Church, Shalford, (to ensure free access for Soprano Pipistrelle bats to their maternity roosts http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Soprano_Pipistrelle ), has gone out to tender.
• Repairs and internal layout changes at the Grade II listed farmhouse are now complete and the new oak sunroom with copper roof and timber framed utility extension has started on site.
• Designs are underway for a new-build house in the Lee Valley.
• At the Grade I Country House in Suffolk, Planning Permission and Listed Building Consent has been granted for a new breakfast room extension on the service wing with modern bi-fold doors.
• Concept design drawings for a new gabled glazed timber frame sunroom with a veranda style link to the Annexe have been completed for a Grade II, 19^th century house in Bedfordshire.
• We are thrilled to announce that KPT has been shortlisted in the AJ Retrofit 2012 Awards, Listed Buildings/Structures category, for our Spains Hall Entry.
• We are also delighted that HHA/Sotheby’s Restoration Award 2012 have awarded us a Commendation for our work to Spains Hall.  http://www.hha.org.uk/focus-on-properties/hha-sothebys-restoration-award.html
• As part of her dissertation on smock mills of Essex, Nicola will be visiting the fascinating local windmills of Upminster http://www.upminsterwindmill.co.uk and Ashdon http://www.ashdonwindmilltrust.co.uk
• The 10k Race for Life which was to be held at the Chelmsford Hylands Park on Sunday 22^nd July, 2012, has been postponed until Sunday, 16^th September.  Nicola says, with the extra training time, she expects to complete in even quicker time!  If you’re in the area, do go along and shout encouragement to her! Embarrassing photographs will now be posted in September Images of the Month!  http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/nicolahiggins365

June News

• With fond memories of the fabulous Jubilee Celebrations still ringing in our ears, we bring you our June News from the office of KPT.
• At the 15^th Century Hall House in Essex, R & J Hogg are making good progress in preparation for the long task of stripping the modern external cement render prior to re-rending.  
• The Rotunda is now almost finished, with just the final fitting out to be completed.  The positioning of the structure and the materials used have contributed greatly to the fact that this beautiful building looks as though it has been part of the landscape for a very long time.
• At the Grade II Listed former public house in Essex, the bathroom floor tile designs have not been straight forward, but they will look fabulous when in place.
• The restoration of Finchingfield Guildhall continues, and we have now opened up the entire frame, and discovered evidence of an arched head window, two more medieval window shutters and evidence of a shop door.  We will be ensuring that these interesting features are exposed.
• We have designed a Saffron Crocus motif, incorporating ventilation holes, which will be carved into the tea cupboard doors at Radwinter church.  This design compliments the theme of other existing carving already in the church.
• Asbestos removal has been completed on a Grade 1 Country House in Suffolk.  Work has now commenced on the laying of a new breathable hall floor and the installation of new electrics and plumbing.
• Refurbishment of an existing swimming pool and pool house has now been completed on time and within budget, and is now ready in time for the client to use and enjoy for the summer.
• John Izod is using traditional materials and methods to carry out lime plastering in an ashlar pattern to the Regency House.  This will add the charm and elegance this property so richly deserves.
• The Listed Property Owners Club wrote to Chancellor on 12 June, continuing the effort against the proposed 20% VAT on Listed Building Alterations.
• Our Images of the Month Photostream has been added to Flickr.  Please take a look at all our photographs.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/kpt-architects/sets/
• We are very pleased to announce that our entry of Spains Hall has been shortlisted for the Listed Buildings/Structures category of the AJ Retrofit Awards 2012.
• We have been awarded Highly Commended for a Conservation Award entry.   Announcement follows very soon!
• The awards section on our website will be up and running very shortly, and will contain details and photographs of the projects we have won awards for this year. 
• Congratulations go to Sarah Aylmer, head of our Interior Design team, for being awarded a Distinction on completion of her Postgraduate Certificate in Decorative Arts course at the University of Buckingham, (London). 
• Nicola Higgins will be running in the Chelmsford Hylands Park 10k Race for Life on Sunday 22^nd July, 2012, and says she would be grateful for supporters along the way, especially to help push her up the hilly bits!  http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/nicolahiggins365  Embarrassing photographs will be posted in July Images of the Month!