We take a peak behind the scenes of Towneley Hall's restoration work
Join us as we take a peek behind the scenes of the meticulous restoration work happening at Towneley Hall.
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00:00 There's been three phases overall. We've done phase one and two, it's just coming to a close now.
00:07 Slowly moving on to phase three, so it's been quite extensive works regarding real things, stoneworks, leadworks, a lot of aspects involved.
00:18 Fiona, what's it been like working on such a historic building?
00:21 It's a beautiful building here in Burnley, Grade 1 listed, so we're very privileged to work on it.
00:27 We are a Northumberland Architects specialist conservation firm, so we work on a lot of historic buildings.
00:33 This is one of our larger projects.
00:36 I believe you've uncovered some original features, tell us a little about those.
00:40 In the stonework we've found lots of mason's marks.
00:46 On the glazing there's engravings from people who used to work and did repairs on the building.
00:53 In the great hall, the plasterwork, we've found some metal lattice that's helping to support and hold up the ceiling.
01:01 Has it been a fairly smooth project so far?
01:03 Up to now, yes. We've had a couple of things we've found along the way that we weren't aware of, but we've resolved them and things have come together really nicely.
01:12 I believe you've been living on site, tell us about what that's been like.
01:16 It's been an honour for me, it's a place I've grown to love.
01:19 I live here Monday to Friday and I see it as home now, as well as where I lived back in Doncaster.
01:26 Can you tell us some of the work that's been done on some of the original features?
01:30 We've got a list of building consent for all of the works.
01:33 The stonework, petrographic testing was done to make sure we're getting the right type of stone, matching what was there, pointing mixes.
01:43 We did a number of samples to make sure we're getting not only the right technical mix, but also the right colour match.
01:50 Leadwork, we've made sure we've got the right sizing of the base so they don't crack and introduced more ventilation.
01:59 And with the heavy rainfall we're getting at the moment, introduced overflow chutes to down pipes to stop blockages.
02:08 And this work will preserve the hall for generations to come, won't it?
02:12 Yes, that's the aim, yes it should be.
02:14 How long are you expecting the work to take place?
02:17 Hopefully February, until next year, when it should be complete and we'll move on from there.