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 | | CONSCIOUS CONSERVATION WITH PALGRAVE BROWN | | | Palgrave Brown | | 07/03/2008 | | | Palgrave Brown, the £66 million UK timber engineering company, has been helping Attridge Developments to add the finishing touches to a 12-month development of a local landmark in the centre of Market Harborough in Leicestershire.
The development will see the former Symington Coffee Mills Factory converted into four-storey upmarket apartments with an additional further conversion of three regency town houses into six duplex luxury apartments. And, as the building has local historical significance and merit within the town, the local authority conservation officer has been taking a keen interest in the redevelopment of the site.
Providing the internal staircases, Palgrave Brown has had to work closely with Attridge Developments in order to ensure that any spindles and handrails replicate the original look of the industrial building. Jeff Gaught, area sales manager at Palgrave Brown, said, “Because of the historical significance of the building, it was essential that any internal fixtures and fittings were produced as closely to the original as possible.”
Providing the staircase for the factory site meant Attridge had to remove any existing spindles and rails in order to provide Palgrave Brown with a sample from which to work the design. Using the joinery centre at Marchington the new timber was machined into the correct shape and size in order to satisfy the requirements of the conservation officer.
Jeff continued, “Modern day spindles and handrails are usually turned and shaped and fairly intricate. To fit in with the necessary industrial design, we needed to provide a more minimalist and pure feel, with straight spindles and cleanly designed handrails. In addition the size and fit of the staircases needed to fit exactly into the spaces previously occupied by the original destroyed by years of neglect. Intricate measurement and design was needed to ensure that the new staircases matched the exact tolerances to fit into the existing apertures of the stairwells.”
Along with careful consideration of internal fixtures and fittings, expert consultations were necessary to restore the outside façade as closely as possible to the Nineteenth Century original. This involved careful examinations of early plans and pictures alongside consideration of architectural and historical reports of the approximately two-acre site.
Tom McInerney, general manager of Attridge Developments said, “This was an exciting project to work on taking into consideration the historical significance and architectural appreciation of the site. Working closely with our partners and with the assistance of the local authority conservation officer, we have successfully combined the heritage of the site with all the benefits of modern day living while restoring a Grade II listed building into apartments that are faithful to the regency period.”
To produce the stairwells a period of consultation was needed including site visits to examine what remained of the existing staircases and to obtain exact measurement and design details. “We have worked with Palgrave Brown before and were confident that the bespoke timber stairwell designs would be furnished exactly to what we needed and of a high quality.”
The apartments were completed in spring 2007. | |
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