MAA are pleased to announce that Wakehurst Place is a winner of the Commercial category in the 2025 Sussex Heritage Trust Awards.

The conservation of Wakehurst Mansion, a Grade I listed Elizabethan building, focused on repairs to external fabric, rainwater goods, masonry, glazing, and structure, with the bulk of the work concentrated on re-roofing the existing Sussex/Wealden sandstone and Horsham stone slate roof.

The repairs were sensitively undertaken and showcase traditional craftsmanship alongside thoughtful heritage restoration. Great care was taken to preserve as much of the original material as possible, most notably the Horsham stone slates which are no longer quarried.

With the scarcity of Horsham stone available for re-roofing, the decision was taken to make the salvaged material go as far as possible on the historic Elizabethan roofs and then make up the rest of the more modern roofs in a handmade clay tile. This method has many precedents in Surrey and Sussex, particularly on vernacular buildings and was considered to be an honest and pragmatic repair approach.

As the Horsham was removed from the roof; careful measurement, recording, preparation, selection, sorting and stacking took place before the historic roofs were rebuilt in new judiciously sized courses.

To mitigate the quantity of new clay tiles required, the lead gutter soles were also raised and renewed. This change whilst unnoticeable when viewed from the ground floor, has had the added benefit of significantly improving maintenance access to the roof valleys and has brought the building’s ability to quickly and safely shed water in a downpour in line with current good practice.

Wakehurst Place historically had a total of 98 ball finials positioned on the gable apexes and kneelers. The Wealdon Sandstone finials were fragile, prone to breaking and then falling to the ground due to their delicate neck dimensions. Trials were carried out on site to ascertain the strength and durability of the stone to ensure that their necks could all be drilled and secured with resin anchored stainless steel dowels to prevent future breakages. New ball finials and pedestals were carved where the originals were missing and now all 98 can once again be viewed resplendent on the building.

Main Contractor: DBR Limited. www.dbrlimited.com
Site Manager: Bart Baran, DBR Limited.
Sub-contractors: AGILE. www.agiledc.co.uk | D&R Scaffolding. www.drscaff.co.uk
Craftspeople: Jeremy Attwood, Cary Wadey, Eugene Ehrman, Keith Bence and Peter Ward, DBR Limited.
Quantity Surveyor & Contract Manager: Huntley Cartwright. www.huntleycartwright.co.uk