What we do
Conservation-area restoration
Work that keeps the character of the building intact while bringing it up to standard — in all aspects, not just the paintwork.
Conservation work is mostly a series of decisions about what to keep. An original cornice, a moulded architrave, a plaster archway — once they are ripped out and replaced with the nearest thing from a merchant, the room is quietly a different room, and nothing brings it back.
Old buildings also need to breathe. Solid walls with no cavity deal with moisture by letting it move through the fabric and evaporate. Seal that with a modern impermeable coating and the water has nowhere to go: it collects behind the film, and the paint, the plaster or the masonry gives way. We use breathable products on solid walls for that reason, not as a selling point.
Where something is beyond saving, it gets matched rather than substituted. Profiles are taken from what is already there, so a new length of moulding reads as part of the original run. It is slower than fitting stock mouldings, and it is the whole point.
How we do it
What the job actually involves
Survey what is there
Working out what can be saved, what needs repair, and what genuinely has to be replaced.
Repair before replace
Splicing, filling and consolidating original joinery and plaster wherever it can be kept.
Match, do not substitute
New mouldings and profiles taken from the existing detail rather than the nearest stock item.
Breathable where it matters
Products chosen for the wall behind them, particularly on solid masonry.
Finish to standard
The visible half of the work, on a surface that has actually been prepared.
Our work
Conservation-area restoration
10 photographs from jobs we have finished. Tap any of them to see it full size.
We work in conservation areas across Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Lincolnshire. If your property is listed or sits in a conservation area, tell us early — it changes what can be specified.
More of what we do: Wall panelling, Hand-painted kitchens, Wallpapering, all services