Restoration Man

[Feltwell]

I wasn't at all keen on the finished result either. I did agree with the CO though on the glass panel - it would give a distinction between original and new.
Like FW, too much like "telly makeover" for my liking.

I wonder if he used any lime anywhere. I wonder if he'll be on here talking about damp in the next 6 months! :lol:

I don't think he needed to. It looks like what he's done is to build a blockwork shell inside the original walls - presumably seperated by a cavity, so it's as per a new build. The extension would definitely have had a cavity.

Given that the original walls probably have little in the way of foundations, I do wonder if he'll get problems with different settlement rates between new & old - especially as he was putting concrete footings in right next to the old walls. The water table was very high as well - if he tries to improve the drainage, that could make the old building move, depending on the soil type......

 

[Penners]

I didn't like the end result

Having missed the programme live, I watched it last night.

Robin, I agree with you, and then some. I hated the finished building, which looked some Disneyland representation of a "cute old English castle". As for the interior, I found it at best inappropriate.

I loved George's remark when he was shown the tart's boudoir... sorry, bedroom: "Wow, you've really gone for it!" I took this to be a rough translation from the original, "Good God, woman, even Marie Antoinette would have thrown up in here."

BUT - when all is said and done, a little piece of our architectural heritage has been saved, whether or not we like the manner of the saving. Without that couple, it would probably have been lost forever.

 

[JoceAndChris]

I loved George's remark when he was shown the tart's boudoir... sorry, bedroom: "Wow, you've really gone for it!" I took this to be a rough translation from the original, "Good God, woman, even Marie Antoinette would have thrown up in here."

I have to say I agree, never mind Marie Antoinette, even I found it gloppily tawdry - it's put me off that French shabby chic stuff for life!

I know they saved it, but it was so romantic gently crumbling into earth, and it could have been a handsome place given a more austere treatment.

 

[Penners]

'Could have been' unfortunately doesn't rescue many buildings.

 

[rogerh]

I don't think I've watched a programme with more irritating graphics.

 

[Pford75]

I agree with you 100% on the graphics. Why can't someone simply narrate this without the need for the 'comedy' animations? I thought the recent episode with the church wasn't great either.

 

[philpjuk100]

Last nights "restoration man" what a sad program (always fancied a mill)

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Yes - sad story.

But the programme is fast becoming lifestyle TV (complete with sad back story) rather than informative architectual/period conservation documentary.

Shame. I deplore the dumbing down of modern TV. I'm dreading the forthcoming election coverage...

 

[Penners]

I'm dreading the forthcoming election coverage...

I'm dreading the forthcoming election result.

No matter who wins.

 

[MdB]

I'm dreading the forthcoming election coverage...

I'm dreading the forthcoming election result.

No matter who wins.

I vote Penners for PM!

 

[Penners]

Population Flees Britain After Election Result!

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Surely "Penners for El Presidente!" ??

 

[Penners]

¿Qué?

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Just dipping into tonight's episode in the Foyle's War advert breaks, and (at the moment - too soon to see how it turns out) I'm shouting praises to the skies over the coverage of the idiot, fool, idiot, idiot who is doing the Scottish tower conversion. Sadly, he's exactly the type who will, in future, bang on to all and sundry about how conservation holds back progress, economic development etc etc, whereas it's very clear (and for once the TV folk are making it quite clear) that the problem is, he's a pillock.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

And the Martello Tower woman seems to be completely hopeless too. Quite how not having a glass roof prevents her from having a livable house with an inside loo is a bit of a mystery, but not to her, apparently.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Glad I watched the whole of Foyle's war then---- advert breaks were taken up with cups of tea!!

 

[essexbearhunter]

Quite how not having a glass roof prevents her from having a livable house with an inside loo is a bit of a mystery, but not to her, apparently.

I have rather more sympathy with her - after all, she had accepted that she couldn't have any more windows in the (probably very dark) magazine storey or in the only slightly lighter first floor and that was going to turn the roof into a habitable space which did have some light. The precedent had already been set and repeated on several of the other towers and they were NOW putting up a total refusal to ANY design, however reversable or visually non-invasive it might be.

Whilst agreeing that the lady had a head full of arty ideas and "champagne on the gun deck" for most of the programme, I felt that when she finally got round to doing something positive she was met by unreasonable demands.
My immediate reaction was "Sell it or, better still make EH buy it and see THEM try to find a use for it under the conditions they are now imposing! " Of course, there is no way of making them buy it... but to some extent EH's own policies are responsible for the fate of some of the places on their "At Risk" register and they ought to be made to face up to it.

The lesson of 1875 - 1975** was that buildings that have lost their purpose and are more and more onerous for the owners to maintain (often on sharply diminished or negative income) are likely to be destroyed. If we wish to claim these buildings as "ours" but without picking up the Tab that normally goes with ownership, perhaps a bit more gratitude and co-operation is in order with those who do.


** The Destruction of the Country House 1875-1975, Exhibition at the V & A

 

[DaveBrigg]

The programme tonight was appalling. The woman with the Martello tower had clearly not thought about what she wanted, and the roof was a suggestion by the presenter. He talked her into it, drew up the designs and then found out that she couldn't have it. Then he had the cheek to say that they had made progress. There was no mention of the lack of any services, a budget or problems with access across the moat during the work. It would have been kinder to the owner to speak to English Heritage first, draw up a rough list of works, including stabilisation of the outer walls, estimate a minimum cost and then find an estate agent so that it could be put back on the market.

I was hoping to see some 'restoration' of the castle in the same style as Hellifield Peel. The closest we came was seeing some mastic being pulled out of the stonework. You were better off with Foyle's War.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

She paid approx 50k for it five years ago, in Kent (with an acre+ of land). That in itself should be evidence that it was never going to be a realistic proposition for a house. Her argument that she was "saving" it would have been Ok, except that it has apparently been derelict for 150 years (I do have some doubts about that, actually, but...) so another 10 or 20 years isn't an issue, it's not a "now or never" rescue.
I thought EH's view was quite reasonable - there are only 43 of these left, most have already been converted (not always very sympathetically), so in this case, and from now on, you won't get permission to add a rooftop room. Whether the roftop room was George's idea or not is a different matter, as she didn't seem to have any ideas of her own.
But then, I do also know how these shows misrepresent who said what, and why.

There wasn't remotely enough left of the Scottish one to make a house out of it (unless you did a very small-scale Landmark Trust type one bedroom and no amenities job). Dealing with historic buildings that have no economic use is a serious problem, but pinning your hopes to something that can never be achieved is just as bad.

 

[rogerh]

I don't have much sympathy for either. They both seem to have bought their properties on a whim with no understanding of the buildings other than that they were picturesque.