Great Western Railway Good Office 2020-2021 (SWT)
We were commissioned for a full building renovation of a historic building as part of the ongoing Firepool development for Taunton.
The Goods Office represents one of the few remaining pieces of Taunton’s railway history. Taunton Station has been in operation since 1842 when it was the terminus of the Bristol and Exeter line. The Goods Office building was constructed circa 1920 and opened for use in around February 1921. It replaced the previous single-story goods shed from 1896. The building was in service for nearly 45 years. It closed to general use in 1965, although it continued to handle bulk coal deliveries until 1972 when it was closed permanently.
The parapet signage on the roof had deteriorated over time. Karesa first repaired the underlying concrete frame before hand-painting the new sign. The paint used was chosen to ensure the sign’s visibility and integrity for many years to come.
Due to the length of time that the building had been abandoned, the roof needed major repairs which included removing and replacing the damaged sections. In addition, the previous electric and fire safety systems had to be removed for safer, modern systems to be installed.
The original parquet flooring was in a very bad condition with several areas having suffered severe damage over the years. Despite the damage, Karesa and SWT were determined to preserve this valuable historical feature. Each wooden tile was delicately removed by hand. Those tiles that were deemed to be in good enough condition to be reused were cleaned and re-varnished. The renewed tiles were restored to the ground floor and upper floor landing. In the final stages of the restoration, Karesa painted a GWR mural on one of the entrance hall walls. The mural inspired SWT to keep the building’s name as ‘GWR House’ instead of naming the building ‘The Market House’, as originally intended.
Brompton Regis 2019-2020
Full interior refurbishment and rear extension to a circa mid-17th century mid-terrace stone and flint cottage in the village of Brompton Regis, Somerset. Interior work was done with care to preserve and best display the cottage’s historical features. Said features included the original ceiling beams and the original stone fireplace. We also completely landscaped the rear garden and laid down a new patio.
Rockwell Green Well 2019 (SWT)
Repairs were carried out to an old historic well located in Wellington. The mortar across the whole structure had begun to disintegrate, causing several bricks to come away from the rest, threatening the entire well’s stability. Karesa carried out renewal of the covering mortar across the entire well surface, in order to ensure that the bricks stay in place.
Minehead War Memorial 2019 (SWT)
We rebuilt a retaining wall, supporting the hills on which the town’s War Memorial sits. The supporting wall at the base of the hill had collapsed outwards, leading to fears that the hill would experience major soil slippage without the wall bracing it, which would potentially cause the memorial to crack. Karesa dug deeper into the base of the hill at the point of the collapse, in order to deepen the wall’s foundation and strengthen it.
Blagdon Hill Inn 2018-2019
The full refurbishment of the circa 17th Century former Blagdon Inn and annexe building. The work was carried out so as to preserve and best display the striking historical features of the building, while providing modern conveniences throughout. Some of the interior work included laying brand new wooden flooring to the ground floor, restoring both ground floor fireplaces and installing brand new timber support struts. Partition frames were also installed on the second floor to restructure the available space and create the four bedrooms.
