Known as the UK’s largest producer of traditionally handmade bricks and specials, produced from its manufacturing base in Leicestershire, Charnwood combines the highest durability characteristics with the ability to tailor bespoke products to your exact specification to produce a premier finish. Two recent unique projects have used quality, premium Charnwood products to form inspiring architecture that encompass distinctive designs.

Stepping Stone House, in Hurley, is a 150sqm multi-room garden house extension located in the grounds of Hurley Manor House. Shortlisted for a RIBA South Regional 2017 Award, architecture practice ‘Hamish and Lyons’ has accomplished a beautiful design, which seeks to embrace the essence of nature using organic structure, natural materials and daylight.

The danger of fire in ecclesiastical and other heritage buildings becomes particularly acute when building or refurbishment work is being undertaken. A major concern is that most building work in churches is undertaken while it remains fully functioning. In those situations, not having a fully compliant fire alarm system can result in unnecessary risks to the congregation and other building users.

Paul Henson, sales and marketing director at Ramtech Electronics, explained: “Fire in our ecclesiastical and heritage buildings is an ever-present danger. These types of structures are particularly vulnerable during refurbishments or new build work due to the presence of flammable materials and hot works.”

The daily opening of the shutters at Mompesson House in Salisbury floods the house with light - but how does this affect the collection? National Trust Consvervation Assistant Kate Vince looks at the different ways that light is monitored to protect the collection whilst still creating a wonderful experience for visitors.

My first job in the morning is to open the shutters of the house. This lets the light flood the rooms and brings the house to life. I do a room at a time, clean it, then shut the shutters back down and plunge the house into darkness once more. This stops light from damaging the collection.

Light is an agent of deterioration and as such is monitored throughout the house. Viewing the collection in daylight is a joy but it has been well understood for centuries that light, particularly daylight, can cause objects to deteriorate. This damage is irreversible and cannot be rectified by conservation treatments.

The Norfolk based company Kenton Brauer Stained Glass & Casements have recently taken part in the complete restoration to St Pancras Cemetery Chapel in East Finchley, London by restoring the main West tracery. In addition to this, they manufactured & installed nine new leaded lights to the North, South & West windows and undertook many repairs to the other tracery stained lights within the chapel.

This grade II listed Anglican chapel sits in one the largest and oldest cemeteries in the UK and was built by J.Barnett and W.C. Birch in 1853. It is of a cruciform design with gothic styled decorated windows.

Raikes Road Burial Ground in Skipton, North Yorkshire is a one-acre Victorian cemetery, originally opened for just 30 years from 1846 to 1878, after which it became forgotten and neglected with much damage.

The Friends of Raikes Road, a volunteer group, were formed in 2013 with the aim of restoring the old site, encouraging and studying the wildlife which had taken over the Ground, and bringing it back into Skipton's heritage. There was no surviving documentation about the site except for the Burial Register, from which it could be seen that 2,000 people were buried in this small area, being an overspill from the Parish Church graveyard.

Sound systems installations in places of worship can prove to be inherently difficult and challenging projects, often with complex architectural and acoustic obstacles to overcome, audio projects shouldn’t be undertaken without the appropriate knowledge and expertise to do so.

With audio requirements of places of worship becoming increasingly demanding, regularly hosting live bands, multiple presentations often with numerous zones within multiple spaces requiring high-quality audio playback audio system design for places of worship regularly use the latest networked audio technologies, multiple radio microphone channels and digital mixing desk invariably controlled by popular mobile devices.

Protecting the fabric of the historic or listed buildings is undoubtedly the ultimate priority for anyone associated with building conservation. However, the conservation sector may be unaware that it is possible to future-proof heritage buildings with the same control-based technologies found in modern structures.

With this in mind, leading building controls manufacturer, Priva, has published a guide, which includes case studies covering the integration of building and energy management systems at some of the world’s most famous buildings.

Sheffield-based Martin-Brooks were proud to be one of just four firms shortlisted for the National Federation of Roofing Contractors’ (NFRC) heritage roofing award for its recent work at the Welbeck Estate near Worksop - the awards celebrate exceptional standards of workmanship in the roofing industry.

Martin-Brooks’ craftsmen have restored the roof on the historic Poultry House, which is being redeveloped into a children’s nursery as part of the Welbeck Project. It involved removing the existing coverings and replacing the highly decorative finish with as much salvaged material as possible.

The team from Mark Galley Decorators Ltd are pictured applying their expertise at the prestigious Mingary Castle restoration project which featured in a recent issue of Ecclesiastical and Heritage World. The Bradford-based company are one of the most accomplished decorating contractors in the country and are particularly skilled in the sympathetic restoration of listed buildings and heritage sites.

Established in 1982 as a one-man band, Mark Galley took any type of decorating job to get the business recognised and, as time went on, his name became known for quality work and commitment to customers.

As jobs became bigger and more plentiful Mark started taking on staff and the business now has upwards of 15 full time employees who work on both commercial and residential properties.

If you venture west from the coastal town of Berwick-upon-Tweed – on the border of England and Scotland – towards the gentle, rounded hills of the Cheviots, you will soon enter the small village of Ancroft in Northumberland. At the centre of the village is the small parish church of St Anne, from which the village may have derived its name.

The church dates from the latter part of the 11th century, built by the monks from nearby Holy Island. It was later fortified with a Northumbrian pele tower, a 13th-century addition that provided shelter against the continual Scottish border raids prevalent at the time. St Anne’s was restored in 1836 and again in 1870 – by Alnwick architect F R Wilson. During that time the nave was extended, the chancel rebuilt and the windows replaced: all in imitation of the Norman original.