CLAUDE GRAHAME WHITE S WATCHTOWER

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1 WATCHTOWER HENDON

2 CLAUDE GRAHAME WHITE S WATCHTOWER As part of the larger Beaufort Park scheme, we relocated and restored the Grade II Listed Grahame-White Watchtower building at RAF Hendon, 500 metres from its original position to the adjacent Royal Air Force Museum site. Now returned to its former glory, the building opened to the public after a royal opening by HRH The Duke of Gloucester. The listed building was meticulously dismantled by our skilled in-house tradesmen, and every item carefully catalogued and stored, before being reerected in its new location. Wherever possible the Watchtower has been rebuilt with the existing materials, which have been retained and refurbished including the steel trusses, staircase, and approximately 90% of the coping and 85% of the joinery. All of the expert restoration works, including many items of joinery to be rebuilt to the original specification, were carried out using our own experienced tradesmen

3 THE HISTORY OF THE WATCHTOWER Built in 1915, the Watchtower was once the centre-piece of aviation-pioneer Claude Grahame-White's aircraft factory. The RAF base in Hendon was home to the British aircraft industry and is recognised as the birthplace of British aviation. The Grade II listed watchtower building is of national significance both historically, as the most important survivor of one of Britain s pioneers of aviation, and architecturally as a rare and unusual surviving structure built before 1918 for the manufacture of aircraft. Flying from Hendon ceased in the late 1960s and RAF Hendon closed in 1987, when the Watchtower was granted Grade II Listed status as a "building of special historical interest. Since then the building had fallen into disrepair and at the time of the last survey in 2002 English Heritage considered the building to be at risk of further deterioration and loss of fabric. Once planning permission was granted in 2005 for the Beaufort Park development the RAF Museum, which adjoins the site, sought to relocate the watchtower building to its site in order to re-unite the building with the Grahame-White hanger.

4 MOVING THE WATCHTOWER Planning permission to relocate the Watchtower over 500m to the RAF museum was granted in The process of moving a building of such historic importance was extremely complex and involved the meticulous process of photographically documenting and redrawing every single element of the building. The brickwork, steelwork and decorative elements were carefully dismantled and re-erected in a manner that preserves the character of the building. Wherever possible the Watchtower has been rebuilt with existing materials or similar to re-create the appearance: the steel trusses, staircase, and approximately 90% of the coping and 85% of the joinery was retained. Each element of the original building was refurbished and reused wherever possible, and each component part - whether considered usable or not - was labelled, stored, photographed, documented and scheduled so that it could be repositioned in its original location.

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6 CONSERVATION During the relocation, many original components were restored and reinstated including the original steel frame to the rear hangar, most internal and external joinery, fenestration, and the external stone detailing. A number of components lost over time were reconstructed to their original design based on photographic information only, including the watchtower itself, Claude Grahame White s office & the glazed balcony canopy, which was recreated by the original supplier from the original blueprints.

7 BRICKWORK The original brickwork elevations displayed elements of unusually intricate patterns of brickwork with distinctive patterns throughout all constructed with imperial sized brickwork were skilfully restored using original lime mortar throughout, managed by Ardmore s experienced bricklayers. Skilled craftsmen repaired the stone elements, and a number of experienced personnel cleaned every structural element meticulously with hand tools.

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9 CONSERVATION Much of the specialist conservation work was carried in-house at Ardmore s workshops in Enfield, including restoration of the steel trusses, and refurbishment of the original oak staircase, sash windows and doors.

10 FLAG TOWER The structural frame to the flag tower contained substantial timber treated members, each one extremely heavy and awkward to assemble. Each member was notched by hand and tweaked to fit snugly together when restored.

11 CLAUDE GRAHAME-WHITE S OFFICE (1915) Grahame White s sumptuous first floor office was faithfully recreated after careful analysis of a single black and white photograph dating from the only known photograph to survive - with the colour scheme meticulously developed by studying a painting.. The office in 2009

12 CLAUDE GRAHAME-WHITE S OFFICE (2010).

13 BUILDING ON THE PAST As we were responsible for rebuilding a previously listed building, opportunities were limited to the enhancement of its energy efficiency and bio-diversity. Many original features were retained; however, where new elements were installed best endeavours have been made to improve thermal efficiency. Insulation has been included in the new roof and floor elements, and thermal drylining has been installed to the internal faces of the brick walls where it would not affect the window installation. Many materials were recovered and re-used, including the steel frame, windows and doors, stairs and screens, stonework and precast adornment along with an amount of facing brickwork. The building links in with the existing heating and water facilities of the adjacent factory building, at the request of the museum.