How Heritage Sites Can Practise Fire Safety During The Pandemic

Heritage sites and museums around the country have been given advice from London Fire Brigade on how to prioritise best practice in fire safety during the coronavirus crisis, including working with local fire services to develop emergency plans so as to mitigate the loss of priceless heritage if something does happen during pandemic-related closures.

Tips include switching off non-essential appliances, using safer LED bulbs in place of older traditional fluorescent ones, making sure that fire safety systems and equipment are in good working order, and making sure appropriate control measures are in place if construction work is ongoing right now, Museums + Heritage reports.

William Knatchbull, heritage team leader with LFB, said: “Help us to help you is my key message to building managers right now. We’re lucky to have so many beautiful historic buildings in London and we need to make sure they are treasured by generations to come.”

He went on to stress the importance of salvage plans, which can be produced remotely and which identifies the items of priority that would need to be removed. Make sure that information relating to item size, security fastenings and how many people are required to move items is included.

Mr Knatchbull further advised reviewing emergency contact lists at the moment as some staff members may not be able to attend sites should an emergency arise.

Museums and heritage sites around the country will remain closed until at least July 4th, which is the date the government has tentatively put forward for reopening based on what happens over the next few weeks as lockdown measures are eased.

Do you need to restore the cornicing at your London site? Get in touch with us today.

Victorian Homes Stand The Test Of Time

Victorian properties will never go out of fashion. With their sash and bay windows, the intricate cornicing in the high ceilings, beautiful fireplaces in every room, patterned tiles and stained glass, it’s not that surprising.

There is also the draw of our love affair with the period. We only have to see the viewing figures for our favourite period dramas, and who wouldn’t want to live in a house that feels like a part of the glamour of TV drama?

The high demand for these properties, both for more common terraces as well as fabulous detached homes, ensures that Victorian properties command a premium over relatively more modern homes.

The Victorians were a particularly house proud society, and the advances in building technology at the time meant the middle classes could afford to build relatively grand houses packed with beautiful features.

They built their homes to last, which is why there’s still so much stock available today. The Victorians built many of the transport links and infrastructures we still use today, meaning that you will usually find housing of that era in many areas close to shops and stations.

The generous proportions of Victorian homes are particularly popular with families and buyers who are attracted to the ease with which they can be extended and modernised.

The architects of the time were put through their paces at the time, to keep up with a growing population. As the population increased, builders responded to demand by the middle classes looking to move to larger houses away from cramped, back-to-back terraces.

Victorian properties fell out of favour during the 1960s and 1970s, and many of their much-loved features were removed. Hardboard concealed panelled doors, features were stripped of paint, and ceiling roses and cornicing torn down. Fireplaces were thrown out and tiles ripped off the walls. Thankfully, many have been restored sympathetically.

Not only do these properties provide appealing homes, but they are also a good investment. The resale value for Victorian houses is strong.

If you’re restoring your Victorian home, and need coving specialists in London, get in touch.

What Is Cornicing?

There are some interior design and architectural terms that you can hear frequently without truly thinking about what they mean. We’re willing to bet that, for many people, cornicing is one of them.

So, we thought we’d explain what cornicing is, why it’s a great feature to restore if you have a period property, or why you might want to consider cornicing in London if it’s not an element that’s already part of your interior.

We’lll start with the basics. What is cornicing? According to Designing Buildings, it’s “an area or space that overhangs something else”. In interior design, a cornice is most commonly found running along the top of interior walls.

There can be a great deal of variation in interior cornices. They can be very plain and simple, or they can be incredibly intricate and ornate. Generally, people will call plain cornicing “coving”, which means the term cornicing is typically reserved for more ornate examples of decor.

Interestingly, cornicing was first used as far back as the time of Ancient Greece and Rome, when it was commonly used on many buildings.

You can also get exterior cornices, which can also be decorative but which serve a very practical purpose, namely to protect the walls of a building by directing rain water away from them.

When it comes to interior cornicing, you don’t have to simply paint it the same colour as your walls or ceiling. There are some ways of decorating to really bring this feature to the fore.

A post for Livingetc recently suggested that one option is to paint the cornicing in a shade that complements the rest of a room. This introduces “a modern twist to a traditional room”, the publication stated.

5 Reasons Why We Love Victorian Houses

Victorian houses have some incredible features, from glorious high ceilings to charming fireplaces. They account for approximately one in every six homes in the UK, so it’s no surprise that they are such a dominant style of British architecture.

Whether you’re wanting to restore a Victorian property to its former glory or building a contemporary extension for a growing family, we’ve compiled a list of our favourite features.

1. Elegant stained glass in hallways

As with life today, in the Victorian era, first impressions count, so, understandably, the Victorians regarded the entrance hall as an important part of the home. Stained-glass windows and doors were used to demonstrate the wealth and affluence of the owner, as well as their exquisite taste.

2. Stunning Victorian hallway tiles

Another feature of the hallway were the deep-toned, patterned tiles. No matter whether they are the original tiles that have been restored to their former glory, or newer replica tiles, they are an icon on Victorian homes.

3. Statement fireplaces with detailed tiling make a stunning focal point

The ornate fireplace surrounds showcased the incredible craftsmanship of those who produced them. Usually, they were made from cast iron or limestone, and the more affluent homeowner likely had marble and intricately carved wood.

4. Victorian homes have excellent potential for extension

While Victorian houses boasted large front sitting rooms, the rear of the property is often home to a small galley kitchen that is not as practical for more modern living. However, these challenges can be overcome by extending and thankfully Victorian homes lend themselves to new additions.  

5. Elegant cornerpieces and plasterwork create unique statements

As well as their aesthetic value, ornate corner-pieces, plasterwork and roses, also help to define period styles and the status of homes. In the Victorian period, dornice was very ornate, featuring flowers, fruit and vines. Ceiling roses were also at their height.

If you are looking for Victorian coving specialists in London, get in touch today!

5 Tips For Choosing And Using Coving

4 Tips For Choosing And Using Coving

Many period properties, particularly ones built in the 19th and early 20th centuries, originally had coving and cornicing in many of the rooms. Whether you are using the coronavirus lockdown to implement some home renovations or making plans for after the crisis, we have some tips for how to use coving.

1. Styles of coving changed over the years, so try to match any coving you buy to the period of your home. If you have coving in some rooms, this is the best indication of the style, or your neighbours’ homes may have original coving you can copy.

2. A room without coving can look bare - the difference it makes can be amazing. As well as being decorative, coving is a good way to hide hairline cracks and other imperfections. It also makes it easier to get a neat line between a different wall and ceiling colour when painting.

3. Period coving is made of plaster, and many coving specialists make and fit plaster coving, but it is not recommended to put it up yourself because it’s a highly skilled job. DIYers should play safe and stick to gyproc coving which is easier to work with.

4. As well as getting coving that’s the right period for your home, it’s important to get the right size for the room. Big rooms with high ceilings can take large, more elaborate designs, while smaller rooms with lower ceilings are better suited to narrower, plainer coving.

Always use the adhesive recommended for the coving you’ve bought and have some panel pins to hand - you may need them to keep the coving up while the adhesive dries.

For the best results, professional coving specialists in London have all the knowledge and expertise, so get in touch today.

Cornice, Cornice, Cornice

In a world where everything we want is so accessible it can be easy to forget the origin of certain aspects of work. I often see various new plaster designs which have moved away from the original architectural rules which formed the foundation of our craft (I’m all for new designs, that isn’t a dig!)

I wanted to write another short blog aiming to educate anyone who never realised there are generic rules and guidelines involved in the design process before we manufacture anything. In the image above you can see a diagram slicing through a cornice profile. Did you realise there were so many names for each section?!

Now some of you may have noticed the name Ovolo and put 2 + 2 together. You’re absolutely right in thinking that is where the inspiration came from for Ovolo London. When brainstorming before Ovolo’s journey began there were so many different ideas - Ovolo stuck out mainly because it is original and maintains an element of tradition still.

As you work through the various periods (Edwardian, Victorian and so on), you can begin to notice small similarities in your plaster designs which we use to make suggestions for your project. One obvious example in the diagram above is the ‘drip’ section. The Georgian era was renowned for using this feature on cornice work. If you own a period property and have some original plaster features then why don’t you try and do some research to figure out the period of your home!

Of course, if you have a project in mind requiring any of our decorative plaster or lath & plaster services then please do feel free to get in touch.

Lath and Plaster

Lath and Plaster is a skilled technique which dates back to the early 18th century.  Due to the necessity to produce homes quickly Lath & Plaster has been deemed an ineffective method of plastering and has subsequently been replaced by Gypsum plasterboard in the 20th century.

Now, Ovolo London only seems to undertake Lath and Plaster work when a project is listed and so the lath & plaster method is demanded. I’d like to understand better why lath & plaster is no longer in demand when it provided such an assured quality for such a long period of time.

Cost. The main reason for the downward slide is cost. The laths are extremely expensive for a start; our friends at OldHouseStore have a fantastic range of quality hand riven(split) oak and chestnut laths and offer competitive prices however they cost far more than plasterboard sheets.

After the wooden laths are attached (via nails or screws) you then need a pricking coat of coarse lime plaster. This coat is imperative for a strong ceiling. We always used a horse haired coarse plaster which provides an excellent key for the next floating coat. The float coat is used to level and flatten the ceiling before a final coat of lime and sharp sand is applied.

 Sounds like a long process right? Because it is. The time element also adds to the cost of a job. Both of which are important factors to consider in a modern building project which is always driven by a challenging handover deadline.

Not really selling it to you am I? Well how about some positives. Firstly, how many of you live in a home with original features? If yes, it isn’t uncommon for your plaster work to have a shelf-life of 100 years+ which begs the question when do quality and price meet. Yes a plasterboard ceiling costs less, however which will look better in 100 years?

 The argument must go deeper. Plaster-boarding onto old joists is so common now and is something I absolutely hate. Why on earth ceilings are installed to be bumpy and out of level surely goes against everything a plasterer is meant to be?

If you’ve read through my website then you’ll see that I lived in Australia for a while and worked for OldMelbournePlaster. Here I received an education in drylining, metal formwork and plaster-boarding. Every ceiling we worked on had a brand new laser level ceiling installed. The plaster board sheets were glued to the metal studs and the boards were cleated to each other. We then installed cornice after and screwed into the metal studs which were intentionally set out at the correct places for each cornice.

This education showed that plaster-boarding can be used to a much better effect than is often used in the UK. Unfortunately we seem to have taken the cheaper method and practise it badly too. I must say I can see the sense in both arguments (boring I know). Not everyone can afford lath & plaster and plaster boarding is a great alternative when carried out correctly.

How Is The Pandemic Affecting The Architecture Profession?

How Is The Pandemic Affecting The Architecture Profession?

The coronavirus pandemic has had a serious impact on how we all lead our lives and how businesses now operate - but what sort of effect has it had on the architecture profession?

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has just published the results of a two-week survey looking into how the current situation is affecting the sector, finding that many are now finding it hard to work because of school closures.

Some 30 per cent say that family disruption and altered caring responsibilities are now having an impact on their ability to work, with 81 per cent now working entirely remotely or from home.

This has led to some concerns regarding the ability to take work on because of the suitability of the infrastructure that’s available at home, coupled with changes to how communication takes place.

Individual income has also been affected, with 45 per cent of survey respondents saying they have seen a drop - with many now uncertain about what the future holds. And a fifth of those asked said they had seen a reduction in their working hours, with extra pressure piled on because of increased uncertainty and additional responsibilities.

In terms of actual projects, 79 per cent are now reporting delays in this regard, with 37 per cent saying they have started seeing cancellations. Delays are being caused by factors including site closures, new delays within the planning system and disruption caused by having to work from home.

Head of policy and public affairs Andrew Forth recently explained how the RIBA has been working with the government to help support architects at this difficult time, saying how the team have been working with MPs and civil servants on a daily basis to raise the concerns of those in the sector.

For example, the government was urged to consider ways to provide support to individuals who do not fit the current criteria for the new Self-Employed Income Support Scheme, such as smaller, newer architecture practices.

A letter was also written to secretary of state for business and industry Nadhim Zahawi, outlining how architecture skills can be used to help create personal protective equipment, which is now needed urgently.

Some architecture practices have the machinery in place, such as 3D printing and rapid prototyping, skills and software to produce necessary equipment and the hope is that the government will take the RIBA up on its offer of support and expertise.

The need for support to arrive faster was also highlighted in a conversation with the Treasury, emphasising the challenges faced by those who right now don’t qualify for support. It was also stressed that in order for the package to be effective, it must be extended to include other groups, such as those paid via dividends rather than salaries.

If you’re doing restoration work in Croydon and need help with lime plaster, get in touch with us today.