Refurb Projects - November 2018

Millcroft Supports Conservation at
The Painted Hall, Greenwich
PROJECTS
The Painted Hall at the Royal
Naval College at Greenwich is
one of the jewels in the crown
of the UK’s naval heritage. The
location where Nelson lay in state as
thousands of mourners paid their
respects, it is adorned with more
than 7000m2 of frescos across the
walls and ceilings; the biggest fresco
in Northern Europe.
For the past fifty years, the
decorative surfaces inside the Grade
1 Listed building (and Scheduled
Ancient Monument) have remained
untouched by restorers until a major
Heritage Lottery funded
conservation project, ten years in
the planning, to clean the precious
paintings and continue their
preservation for future generations.
Amongst the challenges of this
delicate project was constructing the
access needed for the restorers to
carry out the work, which involved
maintaining their safety while
enabling their painstaking work.
Adding to the complexities of this,
Greenwich Foundation also wanted
to give the public access to the
once-in-a-generation conservation
project with guided tours of the
work, accessible to all. To facilitate
this, scaffolding specialist, Millcroft,
was brought in to design, build and
manage a bespoke scaffolding
solution designed to address the
unique requirements of the scheme.
COMPLEX CHALLENGES
The conservation project was carried
out in two core phases, with the
work on the dome-roofed Vestibule
scheduled to take place first,
followed by the main Painted Hall
area. Consequently, Millcroft was
required to design the scaffolding
for the whole project and erect the
Vestibule scaffolding first so that
work could commence in this area
and continue here during the fivemonth
programme to erect the
scaffolding in the Painted Hall.
For both areas, Millcroft’s inhouse
design team had to work
within strict parameters provided by
the Greenwich Foundation to ensure
the structure and the artwork were
protected.
Explains director of Millcroft,
Billy Jones: “The scaffolding had to
be free-standing to avoid any
damage risk to the delicate frescos
on the walls and ceilings and it also
had to be erected within restricted
loading requirements to avoid any
structural damage to the building or
stress on the floor finishes.
“Meanwhile, we needed to
design a solution that would allow
the conservation team sufficient
work areas to access the frescos
safely, create visitor access that was
safe and presentable for public
visits, including disabled access, and
maintain staff access to key areas of
the building.”
HERITAGE SPECIALISM
With such wide-ranging criteria to
work with, the Millcroft team drew
on the company’s 40-year track
record in the heritage sector. The
scaffolding was modelled in 3D with
meticulous calculations to align the
fixing intervals to the loading
requirements. The weight of the
large-scale scaffolding structure was
dramatically reduced by the use of
aluminium tube rather than steel,
and traditional wooden scaffold
decking was replaced by profiled
metal, which reduced both the
weight of the system and the fire
risk in the sensitive setting.
Supporting access towers were
installed to spread the weight load
evenly across the floor and high
specification vinyl was used to
protect the tiled floor from
compression damage or puncturing.
For the public access routes,
Millcroft commissioned a bespoke
access lift and erected two public
access-rated staircases, laying a ply
layer onto the metal deck for the
public access routes and viewing
gallery to maintain a consumerfacing
finish.
Will Palin, Project Director at the
Greenwich Foundation adds:
“Working closely with Millcroft, we
were able to ensure that that
conservation team could work safely
and comfortably while offering the
public a unique opportunity to see
the conservation work unfold.
Millcroft responded to our
requirements both in the initial
design and in modifying the
scaffolding in line with access
requirements as the project
progressed.
“With the scaffolding now
carefully removed, The Painted Hall
has been unveiled once again in its
full glory.”
0208 305 1988
www.millcroft.co.uk
REFURBISHMENT PROJECTS, NOVEMBER 2018 43