St Thomas’ Church Bradwell-on-Sea.

We are the quinquennial architects for St Thomas’ Church in Bradwell-on Sea. The church wanted to enclose the 15th century open timber porch to create a draught lobby to the entrance and to allow the door to be left open during services to provide additional light to the nave of the church.

To keep the visual impact of any enclosure to a minimum, the window openings were glazed with bronze casement frames set inside the timber tracery and framing. The glass doors are housed within a timber frame and mounted on floor springs. The pictures on the glass are images taken from the east window of the chancel and are of St Thomas, (the patron saint of the church) and St Cedd, who founded a monastery in Bradwell-on-Sea and carries a model of St Peter’s Chapel.

Designs on the glass doors by Roman Huszak Design

Tower ‘C’ is one of a string of coastal defence structures built for the Napoleonic war during the early 19th century. It is Grade II listed, a scheduled ancient monument, and was on the Buildings at Risk register before its restoration in 2005.

Natalie Drewett was the project architect for the repair and conversion of the tower into an Arts Centre for Essex County Council, together with a new watchtower on the roof. The work achieved recognition in the form of two commendations from RIBA East, in the heritage and best client categories.

Hilary Brightman is the conservation architect for this Grade I listed Tudor Mansion, now a museum owned by Ipswich Borough Council. Hilary has been working on the Mansion since 2002 and has carried out the following work:

• Preparation of a full condition survey plus outline schedule of repairs
• Preparation of drawings and documents for ongoing projects of repair and maintenance, e.g. roof repairs, re-leading parapet gutters, redecorations etc
• Analysis of disabled access issues and drawings and specification for minor alterations to improve access
• Analysis of fire escape issues and drawings and specifications for minor alterations to improve fire safety

www.cimuseums.org.uk

The Wolsey Art Gallery at Christchurch Mansion has recently been fully refurbished. The roof has been insulated and the coverings replaced, and a new panelled ceiling now discreetly incorporates a new air conditioning system and conservation lighting to create the best environmental conditions to display the Museum’s collection of Constable and Gainsborough paintings. Work was completed in Summer 2012 and the project received a ‘High Commendation’ award from The Ipswich Society in November 2012

Ipswich Museum is a Grade II* complex of red brick and terracotta buildings on the west side of the High Street in Ipswich. The original 1880 Museum and Art Gallery was designed by Horace Cheston in the C17 Renaissance style made popular by Norman Shaw. In the past three years Hilary Brightman has completed two projects here: the new Egypt Gallery; and extensive repairs to the original historic windows

Our first commission at St Andrew’s Church in Walberswick was the repair of flintwork to the top of the Tower, which was carried out in 2001. Since then, we have installed a disabled WC within an existing store at the rear of the church, which was designed to be as unobtrusive as possible.

At St Bartholomew’s Church in Wickham Bishops the original 130 year old roof tiles were starting to slip and fall because the battens had decayed and these were taken off, new battens fixed and the old tiles cleaned up and put back on.

Artisan’s Cottage was on the Buildings at Risk Register when it was bought by the Mid Essex Historic Building Trust and completely restored in 2000. Later that year, it received a conservation award from Maldon District Council.

www.mehbt.org.uk