Full Refurbishment, Hedingham

Swan Street, Hedingham, Essex

“Choosing a builder for a major refurbishment project demands careful consideration. Getting it wrong can cause a great deal of stress and cost a lot of money. Meeting Danny Hewitt of DH Heritage gave us the confidence that they have the ability and desire to work with us and be a partner in this refurbishment of a Grade II listed building.

Their knowledge and expertise in traditional building methods is second to none. They worked with the Local Historic Buildings Officer and NHBC to deliver a building that came within an agreed budget and timescale and we are proud to own.”

Brian Day

Customer purchased 16th century, grade 2 listed building as a labour of love for the village. This building was about to be listed on the “at risk” register and was in dire need of restoration. He recruited the services of DH Heritage who specialise in listed and traditional building methods to provide a full restoration from the ground up.

A schedule of works was agreed upon in conjunction with the local historic building officer.

The first part of this project was a full renewal of the roof. Old timbers had to remain where possible. All old, original peg tiles were reused and where replacements were required, we sourced reclaimed peg tiles to match.

All rotten oak within the property had to be replaced like for like and oak in good condition reused. All oak structures were ice blasted to remove dirt and soil build up. This process limits any stress to the aged timbers.

10000 metres of oak lathes were used in this project which were sourced from a local oak timber merchant. All walls were insulated with lambs’ wool. A chalk and lime putty mix with horse hair was then used to render all of the walls internally and externally. This render was mixed on site using a forced action paddle mixer.

2 inglenook fireplaces were fully restored to their original glory.

DH Heritage was sympathetic to the build, exposing as many beams and original features as possible.

A 21st century, contemporary extension was then added to mix old and new styles of building.