HERE ARE SOME OF THE PROJECTS WE HAVE CARRIED OUT
Take a look at some of the projects we have done recently and also some of our impressive award winning projects below. As well as the awards shown below, we were also awarded the FIS Gold award for External Plastering in 2017, which was for a new private residence in Oxfordshire designed by Richard Meier, where we applied a naturally hydraulic Italian lime external render on to Foamglas insulation.
We also take great pride in carrying out much smaller projects in and around our base in Cambridgeshire .
We carried out the external rendering of Birch Hall, Colchester in 2016 using St Astier Ecomortar and were awarded the FIS Silver Award for external rendering.
Manufactured and installed a bespoke decorative skylight using GRG mouldings in 2005 and were awarded the Crabb Silver Salver Award.
In 2016 we carried out significant restoration works to two original Robert Adam ornate ceilings at 43 Portland Place and were awarded the FIS Project of the Year, Judges Award.
Oulton Hall, Norfolk
Oulton Hall was a project we carried out from 2017 to 2018. The project was the restoration of a grade II listed building after it suffered significant fire damage. For us this project entailed many different skills and types of plastering. The work we carried out included:
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External lime render with ashlar detailing, using Best of Limes WarmCote and LimeCote for the main areas and RenderCote on the plinths.
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Internal plastering with a mixture of Lime plaster and Gypsum plaster and including Plasterboarding and Celenit boarding.
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An array of fibrous plaster mouldings, manufactured to match the original details, as drawn by the architect from photographs. These included cornices in all rooms, skirtings, arches, pilasters and staff beads.
Contractor: Austin Newport Architect: Nicolas Jacob Architects
Denver Windmill, Norfolk
We carried out the rendering of Denver Windmill in 2017. The mill had been previously rendered in a cement based render, trapping moisture inside the mill and damaging the masonry.
The cementitous render was removed and brick repairs carried out before we began work. We used three coats of Best of Lime's RenderCote which is a more durable and robust lime render designed for exposed facades. We also embedded a nylon mesh within the render to give additional strength.
On top of the sheer size and spherical shape, the main challenge of this project was that the substrate was not a regular cone shape, so the gradient of the wall would vary. Also getting materials to the point of application meant bringing them up a huge scaffold.
The building is now being used for public tours and has a cafe/bar in the adjoining building. The owner hopes to one day refit the sails and bring it all the way back to working condition.
Private house, stud farm, Newmarket, Suffolk
This project is a high-end new build carried out in 2018. This project entailed an array of plastering that we carried out, this included:
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Thistle Hardwall and Multifinish to all internal walls.
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Though coloured lime render to the rear elevation of the house which was colour matched using Saint Astier Eco Mortar by Masons Mortar.
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Saint Astier lime render to front elevation with ashlar detailing on the parapet wall.
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Fibrous plaster mouldings made to the design and specification in our workshop and supplied and fitted on site. These included; cornices in all rooms, GRG moulded ceilings and pilasters with staff beads and panel mouldings.
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Weber Monocouche coloured render to walls of a garden room with arched reveals and angles hand formed.
Contractor: F A Valiant Architect: Nick Hare
Cottage, Great Abington, Cambridgeshire
This Project was working on a very traditional timber framed cottage in Cambridgeshire. There was a vast amount of structural repairs carried out prior to our insulating the walls and plastering internally and externally. We used riven chestnut laths, sheep's wool insulation and Best of Lime's WarmCote and LimeCote. All of the work was finished up to new and existing oak beams, so care had to be taken when protecting the oak. Many original features were retained, including an original window that was discovered during the repair work and to expose this, we plastered between the timber window mullions.
Contractor: Brown & Ralph
Private house, Old Railway Station, Cambridgeshire
This project was for the renovation of an old station building and associated outbuildings, creating an efficiently insulated home without losing the character of the building. This was done by adding woodfibre insulating boards to the internal face of all of the external walls, which was then plastered using Baumit lime plaster, maintaining the breathability of the walls.
Once all the original plaster was removed from the existing walls, we found there to be great deviations in the old brickwork. To achieve the best thermal qualities, the walls had to be levelled with a lime render prior to fixing the boards, preventing voids. The insulated system used was obtained from Natural Building Technology and was finished in Baumit Klima Glat, giving a crisp modern plaster finish. On the exposed chimney breast, the decision was made to use a chalk lime plaster and follow the brickwork, giving a soft finish.
Contractor: Godfrey & Hicks
ARC, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk
The ARC Shopping Centre was built on the site of Bury St Edmunds old cattle market. It was designed to be in keeping with Suffolk properties by giving the appearance of a timber frame with pargetted panels. The render used was a lime based though coloured St Astier product. The Monostastier (finish coat) remains workable for about six hours, allowing the pargetting pattern to be run by hand the same day it was applied.
Thousands of small discs, which had been cast in the same material in our workshop and planted in place on the intersections of the pargetted flutes by hand.
There was a total area of 3000m² of render with approximately 2000m² with the pargetted finished. This was a large-scale rendering project on a relatively short programme for which we were awarded The National External Plastering Award in 2010.
Contractor: Taylor Woodrow Architect: Hopkins Associates
Hope House, Cockfield, Suffolk
At Hope house in Suffolk we carried out the rerendering of all the external elevations and some lime repairs inside of this traditional timber framed Suffolk house. This project was part of a development of new dwellings on the land behind the property, in which the existing property was restored. Recently the property only had pargetting on one elevation, but historically the property would have been pargetted all round.
We used Best of Lime LimeCote on douglas fir laths and pargetted panels with fluted borders and a chevron pattern inside the panels, which is typical of other properties in the area. LimeCote is a lime chalk render which has a smooth soft appearance and is very flexible, which makes it very good for use on timber frame properties. This product is also breathable and can be applied to most substrates.
Contractor: Ince Developments
Birch Hall, Colchester, Essex
The project was to extend a small Victorian country house into a large Georgian style mansion. Only small sections of the existing elevations remained. Our work was to render all the external walls including new and existing, in a three-coat lime render which has a natural unpainted finish and marked out to imitate ashlar. We also completed it with a large cornice run in situ all the way around the parapet wall of the building, in the same material.
The material used on this project was a through coloured lime based render, St Astier Eco Mortar, which can even be colour matched by Masons Mortar
FIS Silver Award for External Plastering 2016
Contractor: Rose Builders Architect: Purcell
Sydmonton Court, Hampshire
Sydmonton Court is a large Tudor country house in Hampshire. The building project was to add a courtyard extension to the building. To achieve the desired natural light created by architectural design was at the forefront of the clients requirements, which proved challenging both architecturally and in the production.
We moulded eight large GRG sections at our workshop in Cambridge, which were then transported to site to be fixed in place and joined together. The larger sections were approximately 4m by 2m and supported by steel beams.
This was a very unique project and required some ingenuity and innovations to overcome various technical challenges. We are extremely proud to have been involved in this and to have created a one of a kind sky light ceiling decoration, which we were awarded the 'Crabb Silver Salver for fibrous plaster 2005'.
Contractor: R J Smith Architect: Sturgis Associates
43 Portland Place, London
In 2016 we carried out a full restoration of two ornate ceilings that were designed by Robert Adam in the Eighteenth Century. The ceilings were damaged when suspended ceilings and modern services were installed in the past. Large areas of the ceiling were missing and to repair it we had to work from historic photos and replicate from some areas that were still intact. Initially, the missing areas had to be replaced in lath and plaster and the remaining areas secured. Once we had a complete ceilings to work on, sections that needed to be run in situ or modelled by hand were added., Any decorative features which were originally cast and planted on were moulded, cast and planted back in place. The project took two plasterers 20 weeks to complete. For this work we were awarded the FIS Project of the Year Judges Award 2016.