Heritage & Listed Buildings
Heritage rainwater systems
Rainwater goods for listed buildings, rectories, manor houses, historic agricultural buildings and Cotswold stone properties, where the profile, the fixings and the finish all have to be right.
We work for architects, heritage consultants, estate managers and owners, from single failed downpipes to complete re-hangs of a principal elevation.
Survey, documentation and consent
Heritage work starts with an accurate record of what is already there. We survey and photograph the existing system, identify the profile and section sizes, note the bracket and fixing types and record where earlier repairs have altered the original arrangement.
Like-for-like repair is normally maintenance. Changing material, profile or downpipe positions on a listed building usually requires listed building consent, and conservation area conditions can dictate colour and finish. We supply the profile information and photographs that support an application and speak to the conservation officer where it helps.
Restoration before replacement
Where the metal is sound and the failures are joints, brackets or paint, restoration is usually the better value and the better conservation outcome. Runs are taken down, stripped back to bare metal, re-primed, repainted and re-hung to a corrected fall, with only failed sections replaced in matching profile.
Where rust has perforated the metal along a run, we say so. Replacement in cast iron, or in cast iron effect aluminium where weight or access make cast iron impractical, is then the honest recommendation.
- Hand-stripping and repainting of cast iron
- Matching of ogee, half-round and moulded profiles
- Bespoke hoppers, ornamental brackets and offsets
- Traditional fixings into sound rafter feet
- Corrected falls and re-jointing
- Estate maintenance and inspection plans
Cotswold stone and rubble-built walls
Much of the local building stock is rubble-built with soft lime mortar and eroded stone. Fixing into that fabric requires judgement about where a bracket can safely be taken and where a rafter foot or timber fixing plate is the correct answer, rather than driving expansion fixings into a face that will spall.
In summary
- Building types
- Grade I and Grade II listed buildings, rectories, manor houses, farmhouses, historic agricultural buildings, barn conversions and conservation area properties.
- Materials used
- Cast iron, cast iron effect aluminium, copper, zinc and lead, selected to suit the period and the fabric of the building.
- Where we work
- The Cotswolds, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Berkshire and surrounding areas.
Related pages
Begin a Project
Let's start a conversation.
Share a little about your property and requirements. We'll be in touch personally within one working day to arrange a site visit.
- 7a High Street, Highworth, SN6 7AG
- 01367 248417
- guttering@austendawson.co.uk