Restoration & Conservation
We strive to achieve results that fit as well into our landscape as those of past Masters of their craft Each project is unique to us,bringing its own challenges and rewards,with the overall aims of bringing to life a building that will be celebrated by its current custodians and those to come.
The need to conserve our architectural heritage and protect it for future generations is vital, as is the need to tell the next chapter in the ‘story’ of the building,sometimes by adding a contemporary element,so long as it has been thought through with care and experience!
The urge to ‘restore’ is a common request from clients and it may be that restoration of a given element is both desirable and practicable, however, it can also be as important to simply ‘conserve’ what exists, that is to ensure that the feature is retained for the future as it is, using minimal intervention to the fabric.In these cases the need to distinguish between the original and the ‘honest repair’ is so important- we are always learning from the features, materials and approaches of the past and if we ruthlessly ‘restore’ we can at the same time blur the distinctions between the modern and the original- it’s lost to us then.
We feel that in many ,but not all cases,it is best when adding to a building of period, to celebrate the addition as being at one with the property, but clearly a later feature.
We offer our clients a deep source of experience and knowledge and a unique approach to design.
The versatility of skills that we offer transfers to sound knowledge and ensures new buildings function properly as the crafts and trades we use form an alliance with one another to produce beautiful and efficient new structures— built to last.
We see it as our duty to do all we can to preserve these special buildings and, as we take pleasure in, and learn from them, we must ensure we do not harm their special qualities.