Project details
- Project name: Vestry House Museum
- Location: Walthamstow, London
- Project type / Sector: Arts
- GIA: 880 m2 (165 m2 new)
Project team
- Client: London Borough of Waltham Forest
- Structural engineer: Webb Yates
- Architect: Studio Weave
- Project Manager: Oxbury
- Cost Consultant: Oxbury
- MEP Engineer: Webb Yates
- Main Contractor: Boras
Project description
This project involves the extensive refurbishment of the existing listed Vestry House Museum and its more modern rear extension. The extension features an entirely new roof, which reuses the joists from the existing roof, laid flat as sarking boards spanning between new roof trusses.
Two steels from the existing roof structure were also reused to form a first-floor link bridge between two parts of the building where timber would not have been practical. The steels were cut down on site, cleaned and repainted before being installed on padstones to support the new timber floor structure.
Reuse facts
Steel beams and timber joists were salvaged from the demolition of the existing roof.
No formal material testing was required. Record drawings informed
the design, with a conservative factor of safety applied.
The decision to reuse materials was made during RIBA Stage 3, as
investigation works were underway.
Success factors
The case for reuse was established early on in the design stages.
The architects pushed to reuse as much of the existing building and
its materials as possible, seeing it as a way to continue the building’s
layered history of renovations and adaptations.
The client was committed to the philosophy of reuse from the outset, inspired by the architect’s project pitch. This approach carried through the project and helped align the whole team around shared goals.
Challenges
Site intumescent painting was queried but did not result in additional cost.
Disassembly was planned for during demolition and accounted for in the tender documentation. Since much of the existing façade was retained, careful demolition was already required.