Redevelopment of 11 Upper Montagu Street December Update
Wednesday, December 24th, 2008
We are now into the second month of refurbishing this Grade II Listed Property. Elsworth & Bond are coming to the end of the soft strip which entails burning off of all woodwork throughout the property. This has revealed some very interesting and important architrave details, with individually designed Lion’s heads on the ground floor. The most important floors of this Edwardian property are the ground and first floors, as they would have been inhabited by the owners. Therefore, the floorboards are very good quality with Victorian type sound insulation underneath. Each of the windows have individual wooden shutters which are being refurbished for later use.
The basement, however, is a different story, as a property of this age has no damp course and we are forced to dig out the whole basement area to provide a new damp course. At the same time, we will be laying new water and sewage pipes and tanking the sidewalls. This is important to provide a waterproof and well insulated lower ground floor apartment.
The Conservation Officer is requesting that all lime plaster and lath work is retained and repaired throughout, which is a time consuming and expensive exercise. Problems arise in the bathrooms which did not exist when the property was first built. This means that tiles cannot be supported on walls built of lath and plaster and this is something that we will be discussing with the Conservation Officer. Likewise, it is impossible to drill low voltage spotlights into the ceilings unless they are plasterboarded. We are therefore having to look at different ways of lighting the flats.
As Christmas is round the corner, the site will be closed for two weeks and reopening on 5 January 2009.
Project Information: Freeholders: P R & G J Brodie, Bankers: Adam & Co , Accountants: Haslers, Architects: Michael Phillips Associates, Contractors: Elsworth & Bond
