Heritage Building Restoration and Conservation Specialists
Conserve
Conservation in Action
Every repair on a historic building is a choice between keeping the existing material and replacing it. We make that choice in favour of keeping, because the fabric in front of us holds the energy, the resources and the craftsmanship that were spent on it once and cannot be spent again. Replacement starts that clock over.
Careful repair is usually more skilled, more closely specified and more tightly supervised than replacement. It is simply less destructive, and it leaves more of the building in the building.
Longnor Heritage offers hands-on, practical solutions to historic restoration without resorting to excessive removal of construction, through the careful execution of conservation work following traditional techniques and using appropriate materials to maintain the integrity of the structure.
What we try to keep
Original glass, including the distortions in it
Ironmongery, and the marks of its use
Lime plaster and its surface, rather than a flat new one
Sound timber inside a decayed member — we cut out what has failed and no more
Original pointing wherever it survives
Patina: the evidence that the building has been lived in
What we replace, and when
We replace where material has failed structurally and cannot be spliced, where an earlier repair is actively doing harm, or where what is there is a poor modern intervention with nothing worth protecting. We tell you which of the three it is, and we put it in writing before we start.
Violet's Barn,
Shropshire
This project set the conservation standard for the Griswold Estate. We stabilised structural movement and masonry decay before performing sensitive repairs with traditional, compatible materials. By retaining original openings, brickwork, and timber, we preserved the building’s character while restoring it for long term use.
Wild Rose House, Wolverhampton
This high-specification residence required balancing modern comfort with the protection of historic fabric. We managed structural alterations and internal upgrades by safeguarding existing features, controlling moisture risks, and detailing junctions to prevent future deterioration.
All Saints,
Nether Spiney
Conservation efforts focused on repairing weathered masonry and eliminating water ingress to improve the building’s resilience. By using breathable materials and stabilising vulnerable areas, we ensured the church remains structurally sound and weather-tight for continued use