Sector: Railways
Main Contractor: C Spencer Ltd
Architect: Jacobs
Services
• Lime Plastering
• Replication and restoration of ornate plaster mouldings
Designed by John Dobson in collaboration with Robert Stephenson, the Newcastle Central Railway Station opened in 1850. Now Grade 1 listed, it is a shrine to the visionary architectural pioneers of Victorian England, for whom practical considerations came second to aesthetics.
Having previously undertaken some smaller repairs at the station on behalf of Network Rail, Ornate Interiors were approached by C Spencer Limited to assist with this huge restoration project, which took Ornate Interiors’ craftsmen 18 months to complete.
The station comprised over 100 rooms, each of which was to be restored to the original specification. The ceilings were in a complete state of disrepair due to extensive water damage suffered over an extended period of time.
All ceilings were stripped back to the joists and re-lathed before the application of 3 coats of haired lime plaster. One hundred and fifty tonnes of lime plaster were used, along with 150kg of horse hair and 85,000m of Douglas Fir laths. All cornices were reproduced to match the originals. A 2m diameter ceiling centre had fallen down due to water ingress and had been disposed of inadvertently. Ornate Interiors had only a single photograph as evidence to refer to and scale from. However the ceiling centre was successfully modelled in clay and reproduced to match the original exactly.
The project won The Ian Allan Publishing Award at the National Railway Heritage Awards and also won The Network Rail Environment Awards.
“Increased awareness of techniques used in the preservation of historic building such as the benefits of using lime is helping us to tackle the problems of stone decay and water penetration”
Ray McCartney, Ornate Interiors’ Site Manager
No comments yet.