As part of the Swindon Borough Heritage framework and in collaboration with Swindon Borough Council and the Royal Agricultural University, we undertook the sensitive refurbishment of a redundant grade II listed property originally built in 1876 as part of Swindon’s valued railway history.

Originally owned by the railways for manufacturing and bicycle storage, this scheme had major structural concerns along with more general refurbishment requirements, all of which had to be handled with care due to the historic nature of the building. 

Works included the installation of a new lower level concrete floor, which involved the careful lifting and setting aside of the original listed floor slabs. Whilst lifted the floor slabs were temporarily put into pallets and cleaned. Once the new slabs had cured sufficiently, they were placed carefully onto a mortar bed to be relayed back into their original positions.

challenges & solutions

Noise and Disruption

The works included heavy structural alterations which could be disruptive to the users of the other units.

We ensured considerate ways of working to minimise disruption, this included noise and dust suppression on machinery.

Lower Ground Floor Access

Logistically, there was no direct access route to the lower ground floor, and the busy road outside had a bus lane.

To avoid delay, disruption and inconvenience to our neighbours we accessed the lower ground floor from above, meaning that the sequencing of works was critical in order to keep on programme.