Anything that is part of an ongoing process ad infinitum needs to find a way of becoming sustainable. The conservation of built structure is no exception and to this end, processes need to be developed to allow maintainable, cost effective solutions to be implemented. In essence,...
English Heritage look after more than 400 of the nation’s most important historic monuments, many of which are now ruinous. These ruins are often comprised of exposed masonry which was originally built with the intention of being sheltered. Without the protection of a roof or...
The site at Reculver is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and is now under the management of English Heritage. Once an important strategic location at the head of the Wantsum Channel (which used to separate the Isle of Thanet from the mainland of Kent), a Roman settlement...
Addressing issues surrounding the mental health and well-being of our employees, particularly through the pandemic and lockdown has been at the front and centre of a number of communications through the year, delivered across multiple platforms, on social media, on email or on-site with physical...
Bishops Waltham Palace and associated lands are catagorised as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The monument includes the earthworks and buildings which form the remains of the Palace and the surrounding Lord's Garden, together with its precinct walls and turrets. The monument also includes surviving elements...
When undertaking repairs to historic structures, PAYE will always try and match the original construction in both building material (whether that be brick, stone, precast material) and the appropriate binder/mortar/render – this follows the widely adopted mindset of ‘like for like’ repair....
Stone cleaning is an important aspect of works in the conservation world. Cleaning doesn’t simply help to improve overall appearance, but more importantly can help remove potentially harmful atmospheric pollutants which can damage stonework irreversibly. Cleaning can also help to expose further potential damage and...
Analysis can be an incredibly useful tool when trying to identify existing materials with a mind to undertake like for like repairs or as a way to understand why substrates are behaving in a certain manner. There are a number of differing types of analysis...
A sheltercoat is by definition a surface based breathable ‘paint’ system used to protect delicate stone and mortars. Sheltercoats are generally made up from lime based mortars using a thinning medium to create a ‘paint’ like consistency. Just as traditional lime paints use an additive...
Bricks have been used as a building medium for millennia, the earliest known brick buildings dating back to around 10000BC, The Encyclopaedia Britannica lists the oldest known brickworks as being Samarian, sited between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates which flow from the mountains into the...