Hirst Conservation Ltd

For all those who might be trying to reach our office today we are having some planned maintenance works, so there will be no telephone. May we take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas & a happy and prosperous new year. Wishing you all good things for 2025 from all at Hirst Conservation Ltd

We do enjoy your posts Andy Marshall 📸 but this is a special place for our director and founder Elizabeth Hirst. One of the first projects! https://lnkd.in/euM-kkCH

Come say hello tomorrow at Historic Building, Parks & Gardens Show - we’re on stand F47 #conservation #heritage #westminster

https://lnkd.in/evVUFEt9 Quick share - Just spotted this update on Phase 3 at Rochdale Town Hall.

Delighted to see that the Camellia House Project at Wentworth Woodhouse has received a RICS Award under the Refurbishment & Revitilisation Category for Yorkshire & Humberside recently. We were appointed as plaster and paint analysis consultants working as part of an amazing team with Donald Insall Associates for Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust. Such an interesting building in a corner of the once much larger gardens and a building that could so easily have succumbed to the open cast mining that was undertaken in the twentieth century. As with so many buildings that we all, as heritage professionals get to work with, there are many layers of history to unpick and it was fascinating to read the building during the surveys and associated research from "the greenhouse and a pleasant pavilion with a room at the back" from the mid-18th century, to what appeared to be a 19th century extension (rather than rebuild). Seeing the bare bones of a building can reveal so much but also give the project team an awful lot of work. We are proud to have been part of the team that has worked to save this building and help see it returned to use as a tearoom and restored home for these nationally significant Camellias. Donald Insall Associates Max Fordham LLP Mason Clark Associates Wessex Archaeology Hutton + Rostron Environmental Investigations Ltd (A SOCOTEC Company) Topp&Co William Birch & Sons Ltd #conservation #restoration #regeneration #surveys #plaster #paint #paintanalysis #wentworthwoodhouse #rics #awards #hlf #Yorkshire https://lnkd.in/gYU2HquZ

Opportunities for Experienced Conservators. We currently have a number of projects based across the UK requiring qualified conservators experienced in stone conservation. Please send CV marked Stone Conservator Vacancies to pa@hirst-conservation.com #vacancies #opportunities #jobs #conservation #stoneconservator #stone #nationwide

Our teams have been busy out and about this past week on a number of stone projects. It can get a little hot up on the scaffolding at this time of year - more so when Doff cleaning! Following surveys earlier in the year the fine weather allows for cleaning of the stone and metal surfaces which are allowed to dry before repatination of the bronze and works to the inscriptions - which will follow soon. The memorials stand within the Grade II listed Saltwell Park, Gateshead designed by Edward Kemp in 1876.

We were delighted to take part in a Donald Insall Associates Practice Training Day recently where we gave a talk about our works to the ballroom ceiling in 2013. The works to the ceiling included detailed surveys, plaster stabilisation & repair, paint consolidation, surface cleaning, varnish removal and restoration - completed within a 3 month period. It was lovely to get a chance to see the ceiling again after 11 years and talk about our works. Our involvement in the PTD also gave participants a chance to have a go at oil gilding & colour retouching, with much preparation having been undertaken earlier in the week at our Lincolnshire studios. Our senior paint researcher was also on hand to discuss the merits of paint research and analysis - though we think the gilding proved a little more popular! We had the benefit of a beautiful summers day and are very grateful to our hosts for welcoming us all into their home. Thanks to Rayka Kakavand for use of some of her images. #Stanford #DonaldInsallAssociates #Conservation #Plaster #Paintings #Gilding #Goldleaf #Silverleaf #Paint #PaintAnalysis #CPD

As part of international archives week we thought we'd take a quick look at some of the resources here at our head office. Elizabeth Hirst has been collecting books since she started her training with Dr Robert & Mrs Eve Baker before setting up Hirst Conservation. Here is just a snap shot some of the items our conservators can refer to when undertaking research for various projects. So much knowledge and skill contained in some of the smallest of books in these shelves and that's only the ones related to applied decoration. #archives #archivesweek2024 #IAW2024 #library #research #wallpaintings #traditionalpaint #applieddecoration #conservation #restoration #notenoughhours

Interesting visit for our paint research team this week to Bruce Castle Museum in London Borough of Haringey. So much history just in the walls of this amazing building (and we didn't even get a chance to look at the collections). This is the only Grade I listed building in the borough and just a short walk from Bruce Grove station. Thanks to the site team for making us feel so welcome and taking an interest in what we were doing. #research #conservation #paintresearch #paintarchaeology #analysis #museumsweek2024