Commercial Grade 2 listed roof repair and replacement

The brief:

To complete a two-phase roof renovation at Ripley St Thomas School in Lancaster, which is a 150 year old Grade 2 listed building.

Time on site:

This was a complex two-phase project with initial work on the main school building followed by a second phase over the swimming pool. The first phase was completed with limited access as school remained open. This was a 3-month project.

Work on site:

The Ripley St Thomas school is a stunning building dating back to 1864 so an important aspect of the job was appreciating the history of the building’s materials and finding the perfect match where new slate was required. In this case we used Burlington slate, sourced from Cumbria.

We worked in association with the school management team and used machines to gain access to the roof while minimising disruption to the the every day workings of the school, which remained open throughout.

Our joinery and natural slate skills were at the fore on this project, as was our ability to manage a large scale Grade 2 project in a commercial setting – the roof work covered 700sqm2 in total. Close communication with the listed buildings team was also essential, with consents being followed by a listed building team inspection of completed works.