BRIEF

The East and South fronts at Knole were in a state of disrepair and a comprehensive condition survey was commissioned to ascertain the extent of preliminary urgent repairs required. This was subsequently followed by an extensive repairs project, comprising the removal of cementitious render,installation of breathable wood fibre insulation and the reinstatement of a traditional lime render finish. The areas of roof over the publicly accessible showrooms were re-roofed utilising the existing kent peg tiles laid over a new bat friendly roofing felt and the flat roof areas and valley gutters were replaced with a new sand cast lead covering.

CHALLENGES

The building is one of the National Trusts most popular attractions in South East England and needed to remain open throughout the project, thus coordinating the site operations was an exhaustive process to ensure minimal disruption to the house's daily operations. In addition to this the scaffold required cantilevering due to its weight and the inability to secure it to the rag stone walls, thus again requiring careful planning and execution on the design team and contractors part.

*Project undertaken during employment at Purcell LLP

Images used with the kind permission of the National Trust and Knole.