Design Solution · Construction Methods
Design Solution · Dream about it
Dismantling, repairing and rematching historic precast concrete.
The precast T-form units crowning the building were carefully un-stitched, repaired off the structure, then reinstated above a new section of cruciform units cast to match the original 1960s concrete mix and form. This conserves the listed character while extending the building. Matching historic precast concrete is a specialist conservation technique.
This is a specialist conservation technique: dismantling the precast T-form units from a listed building, repairing them off-structure, and reinstating them above new cruciform units cast to match the original 1960s mix and form. The value is clear in heritage terms — it preserves the listed character while enabling vertical extension, which would otherwise be impossible without demolition of the historic crown. The matching of historic precast concrete is genuinely difficult: the mix proportions, aggregate colour and surface texture of 1960s in-situ and precast concrete are hard to replicate, and the new units will weather differently from the original ones for years regardless of mix accuracy. The evidence is self-reported with no independent assessment of match quality or long-term weathering comparison cited, so the success of the visual and technical match is asserted. For a specifier on any listed brutalist or precast concrete building, the relevant question is whether this technique and the specialist contractors who delivered it can be replicated; the answer is yes in principle, but it demands early specialist engagement, extensive trials and a client willing to accept that historic concrete matching is an approximation, not a certainty.
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