Heritage Project Contracts

Manchester Library Handrails

The Grade II* Manchester Central Library building was originally designed by E Vincent Harris and when completed in 1934 was one of the most significant buildings in Manchester. It has recently been the subject of a four year Transformation programme of works and Heritage Project Contracts was employed by Laing O'Rourke to undertake a number of specialist and innovative projects to improve the serviceability of the building whilst maintaining the character of the Library building.
	The works included the replication of hundreds of metres of new brass handrails to the stair cores and Shakespeare Hall. A metal die was made to allow for the correct profile to be produced by casting. Replica wall brackets also needed to be made by copying one of the surviving originals. These too were patinated to give a dark brown colour.



	Works completed - June 2014 Main contractor - Laing O'Rourke

Harlaxton Manor, Grantham

Harlaxton Manor is a unique style house built in the 1830's for a wealthy Nottinghamshire businessman, Gregory Gregory. It is a fusion of Jacobean, Baroque and Gothic styles in Harlaxton village outside Grantham. It was built by the architect Anthony Salvin and today is owned by the University of Evansville, Indiana, USA. The gardens were built as an integral feature of the manor house and include French-style terraces, a Dutch ornamental canal, Italian Garden and English Landscape walks. These were designed by Architect, William Burns.
	Heritage Project Contracts was employed by the Skillingtons Workshop Ltd, a specialist building conservation company, to undertake repairs to the iron elements of the two pagodas to the Italian Garden and the cast iron lion's head mask to an adjacent pool.
The wrought iron straps, used to stabilise the stone structure forming the pagoda, were carefully removed. These were cleaned of corrosion back to a sound metal surface and then protected with a good quality paint system. Once the stonework had been repaired, the straps were re-fitted, being re-leaded into their original locations.
	The cast iron lion's head mask was carefully removed from its location in the stonework above the water pool. It was then transferred off site for cleaning and painting in our workshop. It was carefully abrasive blast cleaned to remove old paint layers and corrosion back to a sound metal surface. The iron surface was then painted with a high quality 3-coat paint system to provide long lasting protection. The restored mask was returned to site and refixed into the stonework of the pool.
	Works completed - June 2014 Main contractor - Skillingtons Workshop

Alexandra Park, Manchester

Alexandra Park is a 60 acre park in the Moss side area of Manchester opened to the public in 1868. It is a Grade II listed landscape and is in receipt of a £5 million make over funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Manchester City Corporation. Community facilities are being refurbished and much of the landscape improved, re-instating its original historical features. Included was this cast iron drinking fountain cast by Andrew Handyside and Company at their Derby works, known as the Britannia Iron Works. It is one of three known of this style to survive.

The fountain was in a poor state in the park, the paint finish had failed with corrosion taken ahold. A number of decorative elements were missing, including the cast iron cherub to the roof. Heritage Project Contracts labeled and carefully dismantled the fountain, transferring the components to their workshop for restoration.

Each piece was carefully abrasive blast cleaned to remove old paint layers and corrosion so the full extent of repair works could be defined. The missing components were remade by copying pieces for an identical fountain in St Pancras Old Church Gardens, London, in particular the cherub and capitols to the columns.

The cast domed roof had collapsed and this required repair using stitching and plating techniques. The cleaned and repaired components were then repainted using a 2-part paint system before it was re-erected on site in Alexandra Park.

Works completed - September 2014
Main contractor - Balfour Beatty