Working on heritage projects can present an exciting – but challenging – opportunity for contractors. From June 2016 to January 2018, ASUC member Falcon Structural Repairs Limited were appointed as an approved specialist installer, and employed by I J Preece & Sons Limited to supply and install the Cintec anchor remedial system on the Landmark Trust project at Llwyn Celyn in Cwmyoy, near Abergavenny, Wales.
A medieval treasure
This late-medieval development is comprised of the main house, a threshing barn, a beast house, cow shed and other smaller out buildings, which were originally built in 1420 on part of the Llanthony Priory Estate.
As the Landmark Trust notes of the site, ‘Very few vernacular Welsh houses survive from this period, and this makes Llwyn Celyn, as an exceptionally high-status house for its day, all the more intriguing.’
Over the last 18 years, Falcon has gained meaningful experience through working on numerous listed buildings and structures with heritage-sector bodies, meaning that they were well-positioned to work with the Landmark Trust on this historically significant project. The Grade One-listed buildings were in a very fragile state and had to be shored up and surrounded with scaffold, including a temporary roof, and which had been in place since the early 1990s up until the commencement of this Landmark project back in the Spring of 2016.
Innovative problem solving
Working on a heritage development with multiple small buildings prompted innovative problem solving to work around the ecological and environmental challenges of the site. The project required multiple re-mobilisation visits and works had to be stopped because of bats before parts of the Grade 1 buildings could be worked upon. Initially the rubble and loose masonry walls had to be consolidated and stabilised by the installation of Cintec stainless steel sock anchors of lengths varying, from 600mm to 7000mm, with the longer length anchors installed in sections into wet diamond cored holes of up to 65mm in diameter.
The Cintec anchor repair technique/method, comprises of stainless-steel anchors being located and installed through and into walls of a random rubble make up and of various thicknesses. This repair method provides upon installation an invisible repair with the anchors bonding together the loose rubble core with a cementitious grout that has been injected over the complete length of the installed anchors. For the Llwyn Celyn project, the use of the Cintec anchor gave the benefit of leaving no scars on the random rubble face stonework of each building.
This particular heritage project and the works that have been undertaken by many skilled workers and craftsmen in restoring the buildings back to their current condition has generated significant interest from the media. Llwyn Celyn is to be featured on More4’s Restoring Britain’s Landmarks on 16th & 23rd January 2019, with the two 1-hour programmes showing the various tradesmen and heritage skills. The programme will include some of the Cintec anchoring works that were installed by Falcon’s specialist teams, and all who were all appointed to work on the restoration project at Llwyn Celyn.
A heritage holiday
The restored building are now available for holiday lets and you can book short or weekly family breaks or holidays. From Llwyn Celyn, you can explore the beautiful Black Mountains and see the natural beauty that Wales has to offer.
Booking accommodation at Llwyn Celyn within the various buildings on the small estate is now available here.
