The Lodge, Listed Building Renovation

History:

Built in the year 1840, the structure in Penzance, is a listed structure. According to what we know, the most recent refurbishment occurred in 1984. a comprehensive interior and exterior refurbishment by builders with experience in historic buildings. Every rehabilitation project will have its own unique set of hurdles, but the Penzance renovation, involved a listed building, those difficulties are likely to be heightened and made more complex. According to Historic England, a listed building is “of special architectural and historic interest, and also brings it within scrutiny of the planning system, so it can be conserved for future generations.” This practically indicates that anyone preparing to renovate a listed property must adhere to the requirements for getting Listed Building Consent, plan and budget their projects methodically, and carefully choose materials. on the basis of Historic England. Practically speaking, this means that anyone who wants to renovate a listed building must carefully consider their contractor choices, plan and finance their projects methodically, and follow the necessary steps to acquire Listed Building Consent.

The Penzance renovation was given the go-ahead by Countrywide, and it was overseen by a supply-chain manager, a project manager, and an on-site site manager.

Material:

The quality of the materials is always the most important consideration when working on a project like this. High quality, traditional materials were used in designs that consciously match the existing styles to honour and protect the buildings’ past. Materials from a “low budget” have no place in a listed building’s refurbishment. Work with a seasoned provider who can effectively communicate with your architects and designers and who is aware of their ultimate goal. A finish that won’t hold up under examination might be produced by using subpar materials and a lack of design knowledge, forcing costly alterations.

Work Quality:

When starting a substantial renovation of a listed structure, there are various things to consider and multiple teams to coordinate. Given the significance of proper project management, you must be convinced that the partners you choose are methodical in their approach and consistently dependable. A high-quality service will recognise and adhere to any timeframes or access restrictions for your website. It suggests that they are informed about the tasks they are performing as well as what it means to be a part of a larger renovation team. British Builders always requests a clearly defined process, qualifications, and client references. There’s no way to tell if they can if they won’t say what there’s is.

Risk Elimination:

Risk management will always be a primary priority in all renovation projects. This entails taking into account factors like as budget management, managing deadlines, and ensuring that health and safety rules are carefully followed. Each project team will perceive this differently. It is critical that the partners, suppliers, and contractors you choose understand their responsibilities and are willing to take full responsibility for any listed building restoration project. Will they work with you to lower your risk exposure? Have they evaluated every factor that might affect your budget and deadlines? Do they take safety and health into account? When it comes to mitigating risk in your project, you must have faith that they will listen to your concerns.

Delivery:

The Penzance renovation, listed building project will only go smoothly if there is clear and constant communication throughout the entire process. You should make sure that your partners share your commitment to completing the project successfully and to the highest standards when selecting them. Only if your partners are accessible, approachable, and able to communicate with you effectively in your language will this be possible. Our team was able to provide us with complete clarity from the start and send us daily and sometimes hourly reports of work and any concern throughout the lifecycle of the project.

To make internal spaces more elegant and modern, our project needed the renovation of flooring and staircases. After choosing samples from our reliable network of international stone suppliers, we worked together with the project architects to choose the ideal materials with the ideal tolerances and properties. We used stone that was directly imported from Italy to cover 85m2 with 100 x 100 precisely cut pieces in accordance with their plans. To guarantee that grout joints were exactly aligned throughout the whole floor, these were manually laid with accuracy and precision.

Important decisions had to be made about ventilation, dust control, scheduling of material deliveries, and working hours as a result of this. In order to minimise traffic disruption and business interruption, we carried out the majority of our work outside of regular business hours by carefully planning material deliveries and disposing of building material waste safely in the early morning. We always had a thorough grasp of any concerns that might develop, such the necessity to protect underfloor heating systems, thanks to planning sessions before and during the work, which allowed us to put emergency measures in place. We provided a project sheet timeline with key dates that the British Builders team, architect, and client required to be aware of while also adapting our own meticulous internal processes to meet the needs of the client’s project management teams.

Roof restoration: 

To begin, we identified and replaced any cracked or damaged tiles. To extend the life of the roof, even the smallest hairline fractures were replaced.

After the repairs were completed, we pressure washed the roof. This eradicated all filth, mould, and lichen, enhancing the look of the property and lowering the danger of future damage.

We put filler coatings, protective coats, and sealants once the roof had been restored and cleaned. We provided our customer with an exclusive colour palette so that we could precisely match the coating to your roof.

We then used an airless sprayer to paint the roof and any sections that the sprayer couldn’t reach by hand.

After the external roof work was finished, we rebuilt all of the roof joists in the loft, added new insulation, and plastered and skimmed over them before applying two coats of paint to the new ceilings, walls, and woodwork.

Windows:

Before removing any existing window frames, we double-checked that the new frames were the same size as the old ones. We verified that the new frame had a 5mm expansion margin around the outside when we checked the sizes.To break the link between the frame and the plaster, we ran a sharp blade along the inside perimeter of the window. We took off as much glazing as we could.

We fastened the cill to the bottom of the frame, taking care not to use a screw that would pierce the frame’s inner skin. To prevent moisture from travelling along the cill and into the brickwork, we sealed the ends of the cill and frame assembly.

The replacement frame was gently inserted into the aperture. It was centralised and packers were added below to level it while maintaining the 5mm expansion gap.
We confirmed that the frame was level and plumb before drilling fixing holes into the frame sides. These were drilled about 150mm from the top and bottom corners, and about 600mm in between (a minimum of 2 fixings per side).

We began glazing the frame, making sure that adequate glazing platforms were installed around each aperture. These centred the glass and enabled water to flow freely to the drainage apertures. We positioned each pane, keeping in mind that where opening casements are hinged from the sides, the glass should be packed at diagonally opposed corners to keep the casement square. As each glass was placed, the beading could be inserted and securely tapped into place with a nylon mallet.

We cleaned the outside surfaces to get rid of the grime and grit.We wrapped masking tape around the frame’s circumference. We used a smooth bead of silicone sealant to cover the gap between the frame and the brick work. To get a tidy finish, we removed the making tape before the sealant set.

One factor unites every project British Builders works on: excellent communication. You can be confident that we will be continuously working through the specifics, asking the appropriate questions, and providing you with the proper information from the time you get in touch with us to discuss your needs through every stage of your project to the moment of hand-over.

Completion:

The Penzance Renovation completed on time and to the total satisfaction of Countrywide.