CASE STUDY
West Blatchington Windmill, Hove 2016
Sympathetic Refurbishment of a Grade II* Listed Windmill
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“Thanks to the exemplary quality of workmanship we now have a mill which, excluding a repeat of the hurricane of 1987, will survive the vagrancies of our weather for many years to come.”
- Peter Hill, Chairman, Friends of West Blatchington Windmill
Contract Value:£100 000
Completion: Oct 2016
Budget: Delivered to budget
Safety: No reportable incidents
Description
The Windmill was built in the 1820's. As part of a community project, the local carers of the building, the Friends of West Blatchington Windmill, secured 50% of the funding for the project, with their donation matched by Brighton & Hove City Council.
Works comprised structural repairs to the fan tail and gearing mechanism, external timber repairs to the reef decking and weather boarding, external redecorations, removal of unwanted organic growth - especially at height - and repairs to flint work.
Key Challenges
Unknown condition of the building. Despite initial surveys, much of the condition of the building could only be determined once works had commenced and the full extent of repairs necessary could be fully assessed.
- Generous buffers were included in the project programme to absorb potenential delays. This is our standard working practice with heritage projects as the true condition of the building is rarely if ever fully known until works begin.
- Extensive surveys were carried out once we had authorisation to work on the site. This enabled us to strip back and thoroughly examine the condition of the building. As you will see in the photographic gallery below, this revealed significant extra works necessary to ensure the life of the building for many years to come.
- Cost reports. See more on this in the Completion on-time and on-budget section below.
Technical expertise with heritage buildings. This project required the full range of heritage skills from lime mortar to structural restorations, redecoration, wood- flint- and stone-work, and all to be done in keeping with the original building and preserving as much of the original as possible.
- Experienced staff were used. Our heritage specialist and resident Brightonian, Keith West, was used as Site Manager to control the project on a day-to-day basis.
- Training younger ones ensured access to technical expertise in a heritage setting for many years to come, helping us retain our edge in this market as heritage skills continue to diminish elsewhere.
Completion on-time and on-budget.
- Regular cost reports kept the client apprised of the financial position of the project, and extras were clearly costed and documented to ensure no overruns.
West Blatchington Windmill Photo Gallery
