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From buildings of national importance like the Fitzwilliam Museum, to a multi-story car park, the Estates management team takes care of them all.

The variety of projects we work on and the diversity of buildings make this a fascinating and demanding job.

Sarah Foreman, Head of Maintenance at Estate Management

It’s hard not to notice the Fitzwilliam Museum – perhaps Cambridge’s most imposing building since the Founder’s Building was completed in 1848 – but it’s been as low-key as it has ever been recently with a shroud of scaffolding hiding the beautiful portico from passersby on Trumpington Street.

The major works carried out by the museum have come under the watchful eye of the Estate Management team, which is responsible for the wellbeing and upkeep of the University’s enormous portfolio of buildings.

With the scaffolding coming down it is easy to see why the “Fitz” is among the crown jewels in that portfolio. It is one of four Grade I listed buildings which the team cares for, and among more than 80 listed buildings which fall under its aegis.

Those notable structures are among a portfolio which includes a total of 357 buildings, with an insurance replacement value of £1.7 billion.

Sarah Foreman, Head of Maintenance at Estate Management, said: “The variety of projects we work on and the diversity of buildings make this a fascinating and demanding job.

“The team oversees major projects like the work on the Fitzwilliam, which require a host of people like contractors to be involved, to minor works of less than £2 million which our in-house team of surveyors can cover. Then at the smaller, but just as important end, we have the planned maintenance programme.”

That maintenance plan aims to work through all the buildings in the portfolio in a five year cycle.

There are many challenges to working with such a varied portfolio of buildings but an emerging one is making older buildings environmentally friendly. With a utility bill of £16 million per year it makes financial as well as environmental sense to improve things like insulation and electricity usage.

Another challenge is ensuring the work done has as little impact as possible while it is going on – something that is very difficult with a public building like the Fitzwilliam Museum.

Sarah added: “We had to work very closely with the museum. It is difficult as it is a building full of people who love art and history – but understandably don’t like scaffolding. Good customer relations are vital for us to work effectively and the Fitzwilliam project has been a good example of that.”

Harry Percival, a senior surveyor at the University, has worked closely on the project. Despite the challenges he said the joys of working on such buildings are profound: “It is always a pleasure working on these types of buildings. I think one is very aware of the chapters of history a building like this possesses.

“Conservation is all about respecting those chapters but also looking forward. Any work we carry out represents future chapters for the building.”

The job has been a delicate one. A leaky roof meant the some of the frieze, 20 metres above where tourists walk below, was crumbling.

Scaffolding had to encase the portico to allow the team to get at the damage. Once up there the team decided to make a host of extra repairs and improvements. They included parts of the suspended floral plasterwork being replaced and improvements being made to the lighting.

They even took on the sticky issue of deterring pigeons from nesting and resting among the beautiful plasterwork.

Colin High, the building surveyor in the Estate Management team who lead the project, said: “This was demanding work. Where possible we wanted to replace damaged items with identical materials and our contractor took great care in matching the plasterwork.

“With some of it we have to take moulds of the original or similar work.”

Being up-close gave the team an appreciation of the artistry: “The plasterwork is first class. Getting so hands-on meant we also noticed the stamens on the floral decorations were crumbling so we were able to take moulds and replace them too.”

Combating the destructive presence of pigeons has presented problems, as the old anti-bird measures were very visible and unsightly.

Colin said: “The netting which was up there was very distracting. So we replaced it in some places with much finer, less visually disruptive netting, and removed it completely from many places. In its place we have put in less visible devices to prevent the birds from nesting.”

The unique nature of much of the work required in buildings like the Fitzwilliam cannot be carried out by Estate Management staff alone. Though the department has more than 100 employees, the specialist work has to be contracted out.

The lead roofing is a case in point. Originally covering the portico in two huge pieces, its sheer weight meant it was tearing itself apart. It was taken out, melted down and the then sand-cast into smaller segments so that when replaced the weight issue would be removed while retaining the original material.

But not everything can be retained. The leak was caused by, aging, segmented copper guttering. To prevent downpours leading to more leaks it has been replaced with a single, stainless steel gutter.
“Downpours were causing leaks as the segments backed up whenever there was a downpour. With sudden, sharp rainfall becoming more common we wanted a long term solution,” explained Colin.
The team has also helped protect the museum in a less visible way, “rehydrating” a layer of clay beneath the building which had dried out and shrunk during a particularly dry summer in 2009, leading to some cracks in the structure.

“By pumping water into the earth we have reduced the size of the crack substantially and avoided having to do anything more structural to the building,” said Colin.

Another more visible improvement is to be made to the railings. At the moment the team is experimenting with colours to change it from the familiar black to a more authentic colouring.

Colin said: “We have had historical samples taken of the different paint layers."

A further change could be the reinstatement of torches which were carried by the two chimeras which stand atop the portico on either side.

The old stonework had weathered so badly the torches have long since disappeared. Now experts are in talks with English Heritage to introduce special bronze replacements.

For Colin the joy of the Fitzwilliam works is clear: “Getting up so close to the portico has be the best bit. We don’t tend to look up as human beings do we? I think this work will encourage visitors to do just that.”
And the best bit about working for Estate management? “That’s an easy one, “ said Colin, “it’s the variety of it all. Each day at work is so different and the privilege of getting to know these nationally important buildings makes things even better.”

The challenges faced by Estate Management are not set to decrease – the rate of growth for the University is said to have been as much as 5 per cent over the last 5 years – way beyond what people would expect in the current climate.

And much of that growth is in energy hungry research buildings, making the challenge of checking the University’s utility spend that much harder.
But the team is well placed to face the challenges says Sarah Foreman. “We have a great team and our relationships with departments, consultants and contractors, and a strong relationship with English Heritage mean we are well set for the future.”

Published

04 April 2014