Orb Rope Access was appointed by Baldwin Building Services to assist with maintenance works on The Residence, a heritage apartment building in Lancaster.
The brief
We were asked to complete a range of building maintenance works including leak investigations, slate repairs and lead works.
The building
The Residence is now an iconic luxury apartment building. It was originally constructed in 1882 in a Gothic Revival style as an annex for the County Lunatic Asylum. When built it was known as The New Block, and is one of three surviving structures with Ridge Lea Hospital and the original County Asylum building, all of which stand within the Lanaster Moor Conservation Area.
As a heritage building, The Residence has many intricate, hard to reach spaces and elements that require sensitivity and care when carrying out maintenance work.
The work
The maintenance work included reaching difficult to access spaces to carry out leak investigations, working on the roof to complete slate repairs and carrying out lead repairs such as lead flashing and lead gutters.
Both residential and communal areas of the building required maintenance work.
A significant challenge of this project was gaining access to private apartments to establish where leaks had occurred. We worked closely with the caretaker of the building and the residents to gain access and complete the maintenance with minimum disruption and inconvenience.
Our contribution to this phase of the project took just two 5 day visits to complete by a team of two rope technicians. The rest of the project is ongoing.
Benefits to the client
The Orb Rope Access team was proactive in how we approached the project, working with the caretaker on a daily basis to get the job done as quickly and efficiently as possible. We ensured that minimum disruption was caused to apartment residents.
Working on heritage buildings to carry out maintenance work safely and carefully requires knowledge and experience. Orb Rope Access qualified and skilled rope technicians have extensive experience in working on heritage buildings. Knowing that Orb Rope Access is a member of the Heritage Trust Network, the client had confidence that the work would be carried out with great care to avoid causing damage to any parts of the building.
