It is hard to believe that it’s 21 years since members and associates of the Lead Contractors Association (LCA) came together to celebrate the announcement of the first Murdoch Award. The award was presented in 1996 in honour of Dick Murdoch – ‘Mr Lead’ – on his retirement. They were founded to mark his tireless efforts and success in raising quality standards in lead-sheet work, part of which led to the founding of the LCA in 1984.

A decade later the Murdoch Sponsor’s Award was added. That featured the smaller installations that used less than five tonnes of lead sheet, but which could be equally demanding of the leadworker’s skills as the larger, more eye-catching projects.

Pigeons were roosting within the circular windows of this property in Sutton - the first photo shows where they left fouling marks - and so the owners called in London-based Microbee Bird Control Ltd who are specialists in a wide variety of bird control systems.

The first job was to clean and sterilise the affected area and then a net was fitted to cover the whole circle. They also installed anti perching wire to the ledges of the windows below this - the second photo shows the finished work.

The company offer such protection for a wide range of properties, including churches and heritage buildings.

Designers of a new community Baptist Church, nearing completion in Dumfries, turned to spray applied insulation specialists, Icynene to solve a complex insulation challenge.

The new Church is a 2000sqm, multi-purpose building designed by Glasgow based, McLean Architects and built in the Georgetown district of Dumfries in the Scottish Borders.

The building was conceived as a flexible-use community hub comprising worship, conference and youth facilities together a full specification games hall and multi-use games area.

For the games hall, McLean Architects designed an 18.00x 18.00 m sq 8.00m high structure comprising a 140mm thick internal leaf of concrete blockwork with an external steel frame, supporting fibre-cement rain-screen cladding.

In July and August 2017 Suffolk Archaeology undertook three detailed geophysical surveys within the bailey of Bungay Castle, Bungay, Suffolk at the request of Historic England and the Bungay Castle Trust.

The aim of the project was to identify potential archaeological features or former buildings relating to the occupation of the castle, within a 0.24ha area of lawn, and to compare the results from modern equipment with those from a previous geophysical survey carried out in 1990.

Dulwich College in south London was established in the 17th Century and is famous not only for its superlative academic provision, but also for its historic buildings including the impressive Great Hall. The Hall is the centrepiece of the school community and was designed around 1870 by Charles Barry, whose father designed the Houses of Parliament.

Recently Dulwich College’s COO Simon Yiend led an initiative to reimagine the lighting design in the Great Hall to help to restore its original perspective. This included making this spectacular room’s lighting more appropriate to its heritage and also more efficient. Bespoke lighting specialist Dernier & Hamlyn was asked to utilise the knowledge its engineers and craftsmen have built up over many years to propose an appropriate solution. They advised installing the light fittings on rods that were attached to the ceiling at the same points as Barry’s gas lights to minimise the effect on the building’s structure while optimising lighting levels.

When the well-known roofing company John Williams & Company was established in 1870, it had already seen other manifestations that could date back as far as 1822, in Bangor, North Wales.

In 2004 the present company John Williams & Company (Contracting) Ltd was formed.

In the intervening years, and since, the company's craftspeople have worked on many prestigious buildings, including Tower Bridge, St James's Palace and The British Museum in London; Rochester Cathedral and Portchester Castle in the South East and many famous hotels and mansions up and down the country.

A holy well covering a spring that is said to have arisen during the baptism of Wales’s patron saint, St David, has become the latest monument to gain scheduled protection from the Welsh Government’s historic environment service (Cadw).

The Pembrokeshire monument is known as ‘Pistyll Dewi’ or ‘Ffynnon Dewi’ and the water there is said to have restored the sight of St David’s godfather, who held the baby for the baptism.

A stone built, squared off wellhead is repeatedly associated with the remains of a chapel, with some accounts saying the water is sanctified by running under the chapel’s altar.

Paddy Leighton, UK director for spray foam insulation specialists Icynene, looks at heat loss in buildings and how new, high performance insulation systems can improve comfort levels in old and so called ‘difficult to treat’ buildings.

Every November SPAB (The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings) promote ‘Maintenance Week’ to encourage us to take a look at the buildings we are responsible for and consider spending a little time and money on their care. After all, we all expect regular maintenance checks to keep our cars in good shape – so why not our homes?

Gutters protect our buildings – our most valuable assets, whether ancient or not - Gutters manage the flow of rainwater away from our roofs, walls and foundations keeping them dry and preventing costly damage/repairs.

The award-winning York Handmade Brick Company has provided 30,000 bricks for the new multi-million Central Library and Archives in Halifax, which officially opened on Saturday September 9th.

About 30,000 specially-manufactured bricks make up the walls of the new building.