Jettied Timber Building External Refurbishment, Lewes, East Sussex

This property was experiencing significant wet rot / beetle damage within the structural timbers to the jettied frontage. The building had also been damaged by large delivery vehicles colliding within the jutting bays within the narrow street of Lewes.

Specialist testing was carried out to establish the extent of the damage and decay to the visible timbers along with more intrusive investigations involving the temporary removal of ceilings and lifting of floors.

These investigations enabled us to establish the extent of structural repairs required and the best methodology of supporting the structure while carrying out the repairs.

A structural scaffold was designed and installed to bear the weight of the jettied bays. This allowed the timber beams supporting the base of the bays to be cut, removed and replaced. New structural oak beams were spliced, and flitch plated to ensure a longstanding structural repair.

Within the bays at first and second floor level, decorative farming scenes had been fixed to the face of the bays; each decorative scene was cast in concrete set within a steel tray to enable it to be attached to the building and weighed in excess of 80kg. The decorative scenes were removed to enable any damaged or rotten timbers to be cut out and renewed in English oak before being reinserted into the bays and firmly secured with stainless high strength wire rope cable.