uxbridge cemetery gatehouse
the gatehouse to uxbridge cemetery is a grade II listed victorian gothic building, seen every day by thousands of people passing on a busy road. it had no use and no one waiting to move in, so there was no commercial case for saving it. its arches were failing, plants were growing from the stonework, and years of neglect and unsympathetic repairs were taking their toll.
for the london borough of hillingdon, working with contractor alexander james contracts (ajc) and in close coordination with the conservation officer, we set out to stop the decline and give the building a long-term, sustainable future. the repairs made it sound and weathertight, and restored a landmark that gives the cemetery and the street their character.
some buildings are worth saving for their own sake.
not every heritage project comes with a business plan. sometimes the first step is to stop a building being lost. once it is sound, weathertight and cared for, it can be maintained affordably for years to come, and it is ready for a new use when the right one comes along.
03
a sustainable future
windows, floors and roof tiles were repaired and the flaunching (the mortar bedding around the chimney pots) renewed. with the causes of decay removed, the gatehouse can now be looked after with simple routine maintenance, rather than facing ever more costly repairs.
02
undoing the damage
vegetation was removed, unsympathetic later additions taken away and hard cement carefully picked out of the historic masonry, where it had been trapping moisture and damaging the stone.
01
stone by stone
we surveyed the arches and masonry stone by stone, identifying which needed replacing, which could be repaired and which only needed cleaning. that meant as much original fabric as possible was kept, and nothing was replaced unnecessarily.
