Szerelmey is the oldest restoration company in the country, tracing back to 1855, and represents an unequalled bank of specialist knowledge. The company was established by Colonel Nicholas Szerelmey based on his development of an innovative restoration technique for use on the Houses of Parliament. He went on to develop a number of additional restoration techniques and construction-related products, and was highly influential in progressing building restoration.

Today the Company continues in his footsteps, combining the use of cutting

edge technology and design alongside supporting and preserving traditional restoration skills.

The Szerelmey team accounts for some of the leading restoration professionals in the industry and uses only a directly employed, highly skilled labour force. As part of our support of traditional skills we have an ongoing apprenticeship programme led by our Master Restorers.

Szerelmey stands for quality and craftsmanship – we were founded on restoration and we remain passionate about preserving and protecting British buildings.

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R E S T O R AT I O N

S z e r e l m e yS p e c i a l i s t s i n s t o n e w o r k a n d r e s t o r a t i o n s i n c e 1 8 5 5

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O U R S E RV I C E S

Q u a l i t y - C r a f t s m a n s h i p - I n n o v a t i o n - T r a d i t i o n a l S k i l l s

Additional services include: roofing, decorations, leadwork, ironwork, rainwater goods, windows, scaffolding, external hard landscaping elements.

We offer a complete range of restoration, conservation and refurbishment services and are highly experienced at working on historic and fragile buildings.

Our services include:

Pre-contract consultation and specification development

Complete defect and condition surveys

Exemplar cleaning samples

Specialist external and internal cleaning, and restoration

Conservation and preservation of historic buildings

Full refurbishment and repair works

Structural repairs and modifications

Remodelling and retention of historic façades

Façade dismantling, storage and reassembling

O U R B U I L D I N G S

S z e r e l m e y R e s t o r a t i o n w o r k s o n a l l t y p e s o f b u i l d i n g s a n d m o n u m e n t s f r o m h i s t o r i c , l i s t e d l a n d m a r k s t o

m o d e r n p r o p e r t i e s i n a l l s e c t o r s i n c l u d i n g :

P u b l i c , c o m m e r c i a l , r e s i d e n t i a l , p r i v a t e , r e t a i l a n d l e i s u r e , e c c l e s i a s t i c a l , e d u c a t i o n a l , h e a l t h c a r e ,

t r a n s p o r t a n d i n f r a s t r u c t u r e .

O U R S P E C I A L I S T S K I L L S

I n a d d i t i o n t o a f u l l r a n g e o f r e s t o r a t i o n a n d c l e a n i n g s e r v i c e s , S z e r e l m e y e m p l o y s h i g h l y t r a i n e d , s p e c i a l i s t r e s t o r e r s .

Brickwork

Stonemasonry

Terracotta repair

Terracotta replacement

Lime plaster

Lime render

Lime washes

Rendering

Joinery

Carpentry

Roofing

Decorative painting

Metalwork

Leadwork

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Q u a l i t y - C r a f t s m a n s h i p - I n n o v a t i o n - T r a d i t i o n a l S k i l l s

O U R H E R I TA G E P H I L O S O P H Y

As a company we are passionate about supporting and continuing the use of traditional restoration skills alongside the utilisation of technology. We were founded in 1855 and were one of the first companies to actively develop stone and brick restoration techniques. Whilst the techniques and technology have moved on, our adherence to the importance of restoration and tradition remains absolute.

We support a number of apprenticeships where young people can learn valuable restoration techniques under the guidance of our Senior Restorers who all hold heritage cards.

Many of our Senior Restorers themselves learnt their trade skills through our Szerelmey programme. As a company we uphold not just traditional skills, but traditional values, those of honesty, respect, quality, service and craftsmanship.

“Having worked with Szerelmey previously they were one of the first companies we considered for this project, which comprised of restoration works to the listed façade including cleaning, terracotta repairs, pre-cast stone works, brickwork repairs and re-pointing.”

Carl Clash, Construction Supervisor, Ellmer Construction

Cl ient : Vic to r i a House P rope r ty L imi t ed Pa r tne r sh ip

Main Contrac tor : Szere lmey Res to ra t ion

Package: £300K

V I C T O R I A H O U S E

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Szerelmey carried out a complete cleaning package to the main public interior areas including the reception spaces and staircases. All the floors were hand cleaned using a combination of speed stripper and diamond polishing methods, with the surfaces sealed using Lithofin sealant. The team carried out complete interior decoration and painting to the public areas, French polishing all the wood work and polishing all the bronze elements including staircase handrails. All the interior polished plaster was cleaned using mild detergent and water and was then re-waxed, isolated stone repairs were also carried out to the internal stonework. Once all the cleaning works were

completed a survey was carried out to assess the existing stone work and structural elements for soundness. In addition, isolated asphalt repairs were carried out to the external aspects of the building’s balconies.

Significantly, Victoria House remained in full public use throughout the repair project. Scaffolding was erected and dismantled out of office working hours and noise and disturbance kept to an absolute minimum. We used specialist abseilers to clean the polished plaster in the north and south atriums, again working out of office hours.

Cl ient : 195 , Queensga te

Main Contrac tor : Szere lmey Res to ra t ion

Package: £200K

1 9 5, Q U E E N S G AT E

Szerelmey completely restored the front and rear external elevations of this historic residential building, whilst fully occupied, undertaking total redecoration to the facades. Full up and over scaffolding was erected to the front façade and over the roof line to enable structural repairs to the back of the property. These were primarily to the brickwork, which, when the stucco was removed, was revealed to have extensive movement. Following advice by an independent consultant engineer, the brickwork was carefully repaired using the helifix system.

The restoration team also carried out isolated stucco repairs and extensive in situ repair work to the ornate cornices including widespread repointing. Specialist conservation windows and doors were replaced and widespread repair works carried out on the roof. These included repairs to the Welsh slate, installation of lead works to all projecting cornices and string courses, and liquid roofing. Finally, Szerelmey renewed all the existing cast iron downpipes and carried out redecoration and repair works to the cast iron railings to the front of the building.

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Cl ient : St Nicho las Co le Abbey Cen t re fo r Workp lace Min i s t ry

Main Contrac tor : Szere lmey Res to ra t ion

Package: £400K

S T N I C H O L A S C O L E A B B E Y

The extensive works package at St Nicholas Cole Abbey constituted a complete restoration and refurbishment of the interiors including the construction of a mezzanine level and reconfiguration of existing space. All stonework flooring was chemically deep cleaned using a concentrated liquid stone cleaner to remove old adhesives, plaster and ingrained soiling. The surface was machine abraded with an appropriate abrasive disc range to leave a smooth and honed 120 grit finish and the stone was treated with several coats of natural stone impregnating sealer to

protect the surface. Impressive glass screens were installed between three large internal arches and Szerelmey installed a new semi-commercial kitchen and restroom facilities. New flooring was laid, electrics and lighting installed, a new boiler put in and underfloor heating laid. Externally, Szerelmey laid Forest of Dean sandstone paving edged with plum slate chippings. Glass balustrading was installed around the perimeter of this new outside area with resin bound gravel pathways and redecorated metal railings.

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Cl ient : Lea the r se l l e r s ’ Gu i ld

Main Contrac tor : Brookf i e ld Mul t ip l ex

Package: £550K

S T H E L E N ’ S L E AT H E R S E L L E R S ’ H A L L

This complicated package involved facilitating a retained façade to enable significant new building works behind. The Restoration team undertook extensive mortar and Portland stone repairs to the south façade, and treated the existing steelwork with Epigrip. Façade restraints were installed to stabilise the existing stonework and two new floors dug down behind, to change the existing levels and create basement areas. The retained façade was cleaned using nebulous, DOFF and isolated JOS systems. In addition the team have also undertaken extensive work to the hard landscaping to the front of the

building and along Church Walk to the side. The existing cobble sets, York stone paving and granite sets and kerbs were removed and stored. Szerelmey have reinstated the paving, replacing damaged pieces with stone to match as required. New Forest of Dean sandstone paving was laid to Church Walk with Szerelmey undertaking the drainage works as well. Temporary tarmac was laid to the front of St Helen’s Place which will remain for two years while ongoing works are carried out to adjacent buildings. Finally, Szerelmey reinstated the original Victorian gas lamps around St Helen’s Place.

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Szerelmey were contracted to carry out extensive restoration, repair and cleaning work to the faience façade of the historic South Kensington Underground Station. First our specialist team carried out a full repair survey including photographic documentation, measurements and detailing. Samples of the existing faience were taken for careful colour matching to achieve the range of red tones seen across the façade. Each differing shade had to be produced by specialist colour technicians who formulated the colour recipes to maintain consistency. The survey indicated that due to the level of damage to the façade

it was necessary to replace 1800 oxblood red faience units and repair many others. This included matching mouldings and decorative faience pieces, as well as colour matching the pieces to the existing. The replacement units forming the string courses were dry laid to ascertain colour and alignment. In addition the entire façade was carefully hand cleaned.

The restoration and cleaning work at South Kensington has returned this popular station to its former radiance and in recognition of this, it has won Highly Commended in the recent Heritage Awards.

Cl ient : Transpor t fo r London

Main Contrac tor : KN Network Se rv ices

Package: £500K

S O U T H K E N S I N G T O N U N D E R G R O U N D

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Cl ient : CIT

Main Contrac tor : Mace

Package: £560K

S O U T H B A N K T O W E R

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Szerelmey have undertaken a large and varied package of restoration work on this residential tower, which also had 11 additional storeys added to its existing 30 storey height. Our works included cleaning the exterior concrete and concrete fins using nebulous and DOFF methods accessed from specialist designed cradles. Before beginning repairs we carried out extensive trials using various aggregates to match the existing building fabric. Once the formula had been determined we combined the aggregate with base coloured mortar and finished to the existing fabric. Once this had cured we mechanically ground the surface back until it was perfectly flush.

Our specialists undertook structural repairs to the areas where link bridges were removed from between the tower and the podium building. We formed a timber shutter incorporating stainless steel reinforcement then poured the repair using a fosroc compound. Finally the repair was finished off using our approved mortar mix. All joints were raked out and repointed using silicone mastic and repairs made to defective areas of spalling concrete. Finally, we built a Burlington slate feature wall, designed by our in house design team for an entrance adjacent to the site.

Cl ient : 130 Su the r l and Avenue (1990) L td

Main Contrac tor : Szere lmey Res to ra t ion

Package: £120K

S U T H E R L A N D AV E N U E

Szerelmey carefully cleaned the entire façade using a gentle nebulous water spray system suitable for historic masonry and the high temperature, steam based DOFF system for tougher stains. Extensive brick repairs and replacements were made and complicated York stone slab replacements made to the cantilevered balcony – these entailed the use of specialist lifting equipment. Further repairs were made to the roof, lead coverings were installed to the main cornice and the metal railings repaired. Szerelmey installed an ornamental, metal spiral staircase to the rear, garden elevation and new stone steps to the front entrance.

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C O N TA C T U S

H e a d O f f i c e

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P r o j e c t E n q u i r i e sOne of our team would be happy to discuss your restoration project with you. Our involvement early in a project will invariably save the Client time and money.