St. Brandon's Church

With oak furnishings vaporised, main roofs burnt off leaving only charred main beams lying on the ground and the stonework of the arcades, chancel arch and inside faces of virtually all the window surrounds shattered, our team were brought in to initially undertake a survey on the damage to the stonework.

From the results of the survey, our design team produced model drawings of the existing stonework which enabled replacements to be produced. As the external masonry had survived almost unscathed, the rebuild was to take place to replicate the original as close as possible. With the internals destroyed, the new internal fit-out design encompassed a new layout that embraced simplicity, emphasising light and space.

The main external works undertaken were the restoration of the tower, roof and window surrounds. The internals provided the bigger challenge for the team with the restoration of the seven number triple arches, the dismantling and installation of the new supporting columns in addition to the installation of the new stone floor and window surrounds. This required a considerable number of large needles and supporting structure, needles being carefully placed through the existing masonry, to act as a temporary support to the existing clerestory stonework above the areas to be removed, whilst work took place below. Rather than removing the clerestory the team had been challenged to find a way to retain this original stonework.