Issue 47 JUNE - Flipbook - Page 38
Steel Window Association
member completes heritage
refurbishment within
Woolwich Arsenal
While recent decades have seen Woolwich Arsenal transformed from a near derelict munitions factory
to become one of south London’s most iconic redevelopments, restoration and repurposing work
continue apace, with a recently completed contract involving Steel Window Association member,
ASWS, highlighting both the challenges and the opportunities the complexity of the buildings can
present.
Aside from converted and new-build residential
properties, the huge site has also seen numerous
businesses and social enterprises established, including
Woolwich Works, a creative quarter for the arts which
includes spaces such as The Firework Factory, The
Laboratory and The Cartridge Factory. ASWS has
undertaken a number of contracts within the borough,
leading to the local conservation officer recommending
the company to Mace Interiors, which was awarded the
contract to completely refit five separate buildings, with
Bennetts Associates being the architectural practice
leading the design work.
Within Buildings 19 and 41, ASWS was tasked with
refurbishing over a dozen large steel windows, including
10 with semi-circular heads, and the removal of three
others where the openings were to be blocked up or
replaced by new doors. While the company’s operatives
are well experienced at demounting very old windows
without damage, these posed a particular challenge in
that the outer frames had been deeply recessed into the
brickwork to help withstand a possible explosion, from
inside or outside, with the history of the building and its
location.
The 12 windows measuring 2,400mm high by 1,500mm
were removed to the London premises of ASWS for
careful grit-blasting and the replacement of many heavily
corroded sections. In part, this work was facilitated by
the company’s astute decision to conserve the three
unwanted frames rather than simply scrapping them.
During the course of its project, this trio became the
“Frankenstein” of donor frames for a number of repairs
carried out by ASWS.
This reuse rather than the building industry’s default of
recycling old metal offered the client significant cost savings and helped maintain the integrity of a truly historic
complex which dates back to the end of the 17th century.
