BLACKETT-ORD CONSERVATION
ENGINEERING & ARCHITECTURE
017683 52572
CATHEDRALS & PLACES OF WORSHIP
Seventeen Nineteen, Holy Trinity Church
Sunderland, Tyne & Wear
Client Churches Conservation Trust
Scope Grade I listed | 1718-1719 | heritage at risk |
conversion | community space | HLF Funded
Status Completed Awards Various
Holy Trinity Church is Grade I listed and was on the Historic England's heritage at risk register. The Churches Conservation Trust stepped in to care for the building and find a economically viable use. A Heritage Lottery Fund was granted to the redevelopment of Holy Trinity into a community space called Seventeen Nineteen.
The works involved; replacement ground floor structure, isolated repairs to the existing building fabric, new timber framed WC pod and gallery structure, and a new entrance pod.
St Michael's Church
Kirkham, Lancashire
Client The PCC of St Michael's
Scope grade II* listed | 1823 | reordering project |
masonry stabilisation | structural interventions
Status Completed
We have worked on various projects at St Michael's Church, including: stabilisation of the churchyard boundary walls using ground anchors, formation of a meeting space at gallery level with a structural glazed screen, installation of a lift and staircase, and alterations to the floors in the tower.
Alongside Architects: Fish Associates.
Liverpool Anglican Cathedral
Liverpool
Client Dean and Chapter of Liverpool Anglican Cathedral
Scope grade I listed | 1904 - 1978 | Sir Giles Gilbert Scott |
Cathedral Engineer | various project involvement
Status Completed
We were structural engineers for the Cathedral between 2000 - 2019. Past works have included strengthening the windows to the Lady Chapel, advising repairs to the concrete roofs and preparing a strategy for managing cracking in the vaults. Remote movement monitoring was installed to enhance the previous tell-tales system.
Manchester Cathedral
Manchester
Client Dean and Chapter of Manchester Cathedral
Scope grade I listed | 15th century | considered structural interventions | medieval rood screen
Status Completed Awards Various
As part of a project for a new limestone floor for the Cathedral we provided structural advice for spanning over crypts and soft areas, in Limecrete. We also designed a lifting dais, electrically operated and in two sections giving a stage and a small podium. The dais sits flush with the floor when not in use and has an access hatch for inspection and maintenance. Also at the Cathedral we have designed the support for the new Stoll organ over the choir screen.
Wakefield Cathedral
Wakefield
Client Dean and Chapter of Wakefield Cathedral
Scope grade I listed | 12th century | alterations in 19th century |
replacement ground floor | piling works
Status Completed
The recent works at Wakefield Cathedral involved the removal of the pews and the installation of a new limestone floor. The old suspended floor over the Pilkington Chapel dates from the 1920’s and is concrete on corroding steel beams. The floor has been underpinned with 40 mm steel piles driven by hand through the very soft and loose material below the floor, which included collapsed vaults and coffin voids. Winner of the RIBA Yorkshire Award 2017.
Alongside Architects: Thomas Ford and Partners.
St Philip and St James Church
Alderley Edge, Cheshire
Client The PCC of St Philip and St James
Scope grade II* listed | 1853 | spire added 1857 |
iron cramps | masonry rebuild | scaffold access
Status Completed
This is a Grade ll* dating from 1867 with a three tier broached spire in sandstone. Three continuous rings of iron had to be removed without dismantling the tower. The stones in each ring were taken out sequentially and the iron rings removed. They were replaced with stainless steel rings bolted to the inside face of the spire.
Christ Church
Hartlepool, County Durham
Client Hartlepool Borough Council
Scope grade II* listed | 1850 | conversion and refurbishment |
steel and timber staircase
Status Completed
This church by E.B. Lamb has been converted into an Art Gallery with public access up to a viewing platform on the top of the tower. The design involved inserting a new staircase around the re-positioned bells, also avoiding the clock mechanism.
The structure is steel with a fine oak staircase.
St Mary's Church
Clitheroe, Lancashire
Client The PCC of St Mary's
Scope grade II* listed | 15th century tower | spire added 1844
masonry rebuild | iron cramps | HLF Funded
Status Completed
The spire was built with rings of iron dog cramps throughout the structure, including at the base of the spire where it sits on the tower. In addition to the cramps there were iron dowels between the stones in adjacent bed joints., all of which were showing signs of corrosion and consequential stone damage. In 1969 the top six metres were rebuilt with copper cramps, but by 2011 the iron corrosion in the rest of the spire needed attention. An HLF grant funded the complete rebuilding of the spire.
The White Church
Fairhaven, Lytham St Annes, Lancashire
Client Fairhaven United Reform Church
Scope grade II* listed | 1910-12 | unique white faience |
structural inspection | steel and concrete repairs
Status Completed
Built in 1910-12 to the design of Briggs Wolstenholme and Thornely of Liverpool, this unusual building is suffering from defects common to the early twentieth century, in that water ingress and the coastal environment has caused structural steel and concrete reinforcement to corrode.
The works involved the removal and replacement of the corroding steel beams supporting the dome with reinforced concrete beams and vertical tension rods. The concrete floors in the campanile were also being replaced.