Scaffolding
The Project
Originally constructed in 1872, Athlone House is an impressive Victorian home located on the edge of Hampstead Heath within the Highgate Conservation Area. The property was built for its original resident, Edward Brooke, and was subsequently home to a number of residents before being requisitioned by the RAF during World War II and becoming part of an NHS hospital in the 1950s.
Vacated by the NHS in 2003, the stunning gothic house lay empty for several years with creeping decay putting it at risk of dereliction. However, the property has now been acquired by a private owner with ambitious plans to restore and enhance it as a domestic residence once again.
Contractor Knight Harwood is delivering the project and enlisted the help of Millcroft to provide the scaffolding and access requirements for this complex refurbishment, restoration and extension programme.
The Solution from Millcroft
Millcroft’s scope of works has include extensive modular, lightweight weather protection to enable internal and external restoration of the building. The scaffolding design also needed to enable structural modifications, including a new basement extension, swimming pool and garden pavilion.
The large temporary roof was a dual pitch mansard and was designed to envelope the entire project during the restoration, demanding careful design of both the solution and the installation schedule in response to heavy wind loadings in the exposed location.
Millcroft’s in-house design team also had to develop a scaffolding solution that would not tie back to the delicate existing structure, resulting in extensive buttressing to support the huge temporary roof.