RE PAIRS

1, 2 and 3 Rock Court, Mansfield. Mark Parsons

1, 2 and 3 Rock Court is a 17th century, tall, three-storey stone building on the edge of the River Maun within the Bridge Street Conservation Area of Mansfield town centre. It has been derelict for many years and was in a severe state of disrepair. The building is listed Grade II.

The property was purchased with the intention of including it in the overall land reclamation and development proposals for an area of approximately 1.5 ha known as Rock Valley.

Tentative proposals to convert Rock Court together with the stables building into twelve single person flatlets had been put forward. Its preferred use was a heritage museum and craft workshops. Neither of these proposals could proceed due to a lack of funds. Meanwhile the property was deteriorating rapidly and needed urgent first-aid repairs and reroofing. It was considered to be a “Building at Risk” and in imminent danger of being lost.

Even though the future use of Rock

After re-roofing, reconstruction of gable walls and

associated chimneys together with limited repair of the main

structure, new guttcring and

clearance of debris.

The building has been re-secured to prevent unau thorised entry.

Court was in doubt with no funding being available for its redevelopment, Mansfield District Council resolved to grant-aid repairs in order to save the building. The District’s emergency works budget was topped up with an equal contribution from Nottinghamshire County Council and an English Heritage “Buildings at Risk” grant of 25% of the cost of eligible work.

The contract involved reroofing, the reconstruction of gable walls and associated chimneys together with limited repair of the main structure, new guttering, the clearance of debris and the resecuring of the building to prevent unauthorised access.

The original oak structure, including four substantial trusses, has been preserved without the need for substantial renewal. New green oak fixed by traditional oak dowel fixing and jointing techniques was used where timber replacement was necessary. All four dormer windows, together with the original Yorkshire slid-

ing sash windows, needed replacing in their entirety because of their very poor structural state caused by plastered brick on edge dormer cheeks founded on inadequately sized double oak rafters. This was the only detail which was amended due to its inherent instability. A softwood stud frame with a microporous damp-proof membrane together with lead flashings and painted plywood sheeting was used to produce a similar aesthetic effect with some success.

Sufficient cost savings were made to enable the buildings’ roof structure to be insulated externally. Ths will enable the oak structure to remain exposed internally subsequent to any redevelopment. Apart from the obvious aesthetic advantages, the structure will now remain well ventilated with the additional benefit of increased strength produced by the oversheeting plywood required to take the insulation. The roof was then counter battened, felted, battened and tiled using stone slates and pantiles removed from the remaining roof with the addition of second hand materials from specialist suppliers.

The final contract sum, excluding fees and VAT, will be £28,500. This figure is well within the original budget figure even when the additional externally applied insulation is included.

The contractor was the only firm to give a realistic price. Both the other tenders received were in excess of £60,000. The scheme benefited enormously from precise pricing, good contract management and an exceptional foreman, a young qualified joiner with a newly found enthusiasm for oak structures.

As any experienced conservationist/ architect knows, failure on the part of any one of the above three elements can lead to endless snags and a failure to meet quality standards or deadlines.

Here’s to this past success.

Contract administtator: Director of Technical Services,

Mansfield District Council

Roofing sub-contractor: Dukeries Tiling, Mansfield

Woodhouse

County Council; English Heritage

Miners Architect, specialising in timber framing; Graham

Beaumont, Conservation Officer, Notringhamshire

County Council.

Mark Parsons is with Mansfield District Council.

1—3 Rock Road, Mansfield, before repair.

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