We were delighted to provide Caroline Gumble, CEO of the CIOB with a site tour of Skinners’ Hall. The tour highlighted the sensitive refurbishment and restoration works we are carrying out to this unique Grade I Listed and Scheduled Ancient Monument.
The work at Skinners’ Hall is very complex and logistically challenging, and our Project Manager explained to Caroline how we were overcoming these challenges and the various construction methods we have implemented. This includes the use of a conveyor belt from the basement level of the historic building, removing waste spoil to the very few entry points around the building.
Following the visit Caroline said “It was an absolute privilege to be invited by Rooff for a site visit at their project to refurbish and conserve Skinners’ Hall. This is a Grade I listed building in the heart of London, with the work being delivered for the client The Skinners’ Company, along with scrutiny, due to the location and nature of the building which is a scheduled monument, from the City of London and Historic England. It was a pleasure to see Steve Drury, and Karl Patten and have their expertise to draw on. It is a complex project, with many challenges – for example, there are few entry points to the building, making the delivery logistics quite difficult, plus the neighbouring buildings, including other livery halls, must not be subject to noise or disturbance at certain times, meaning that the timetable for works is more limited than usual. I was also fascinated by some of the conservation and heritage aspects of the work – for example, another challenge is that some of the older materials have to be removed but must remain on site for preservation purposes, while work is carried out to make good and upgrade where necessary, before the materials are then reused and reinstalled. Plus conversations about how to manage potentially replacing lathe and daub and other traditional construction methods really brought to life many of the things CIOB has covered over the over years at our annual Conservation Conference.
Huge thanks to our friends at Roof, a company with which we have a Training Partnership, for their time today – it was a brilliant morning, spending time at really interesting project and I hope to be able to go back in a couple of years when the work should be nearing completion.”
Rooff have a long-standing Training partnership with the CIOB, as part of the Rooff Training Academy, where we support staff working towards chartered membership. Rooff staff are encouraged to utilise the wide range of CPD offers on the CIOB Academy as part of their ongoing career development.
We look forward to welcoming Caroline back in the future.
