Steady hands at Stratford Town Hall

After hosting weddings, meetings and events for many years, Stratford Town Hall was looking dated and tired. Stratford Town Council were looking for a high quality redecoration, so called upon LP Painting & Decorating to bring the building back to life. Leigh Pears runs us through the extensive work required...

Lots of polythene was needed as many decorative items were left in place. When we were approached by Stratford Town Council the work was to be completed on a tight time scale, but due to Covid restrictions being in place the facility was no longer in use so we had greater flexibility with regards to our time frames.

We were given the brief of bringing the Town Hall on Sheep Street ‘back to life ’ and restore its character. The decor had not been done for many years and was dated, and as the venue is used for many weddings, meetings and events, it was vital that it was finished to an exceptionally high standard.

We began by running through all of the risk assessments and methods with our employees on how to proceed safely with the work, before

sheeting all floors with Correx sheeting to protect the hard wood flooring, and covering chandeliers with polythene as we did not want to bubble wrap them due to concerns regarding excessive weight.

Preparation working began by raking out all cracks, and removing flaking materials from walls and joinery, which were then filled and sanded with our dustless sanding equipment.

The ceilings were mostly very high, so use of two scaffold towers was essential, which was erected by our PASMA trained employees.

Working from the top floor down, we used two coats of Johnstone’s Trade Durable Matt on the walls, and in the case of The Ballroom and The Ante Room, applied with a 10-inch brush for an authentic finish. VI

Nearly every ceiling has a different feature or pattern, such as this octagonal design in one of the smaller rooms.

The very large ceilings featured decorative plaster roses with details Similarly, some large curtains had to be covered with polythene and which needed to be picked out in various colours and finished with very painted around as they were unbelievably heavy and the client was precise intricate detail. Some ceilings had four different colours and worried the removal company wouldn ’t get them back up. cornices with gold in-between requiring considerable patience and The vast majority of the project was completed with Johnstone’s Trade accuracy to complete. products, Vinyl Matt for the ceilings, Durable Matt for the walls, Water

This extended to wall cartouches with decorative plaster, picked out Based Undercoat and Satin Finish for the joinery work. in white and the wall colour with gold strings. This intricate work was We completed the work within eight weeks without a snag list, very time consuming and mostly completed with a 1-inch sash tool or the client was very happy and we have even been back to cutting in brush, plus most importantly, a very steady hand! do more areas we didn ’t previously quote for.

Another obstacle to overcome was that some paintings couldn ’t be removed from the walls.

These had to be bubble wrapped and very carefully worked around to avoid any damage.

LP Painting & Decorating Ltd are based near Rugby and Members of the PDA. Get in touch with them on 07932 005148 or visit www.lppaintingdecorating.co.uk