Blog 2012

Earth Works!

                             

This week, we have enjoyed enormously, the company of a Japanese architect and earthworker - Tono Mirai. He has been over in the UK as part of a focus on Japanese craft at the Craft Centre in Ruthin. We were privildged that he chose to visit Ty-Mawr after his work in Ruthin had finished- inbetween The Eden Project and BedZed.

He gave a wonderful slide show, showing off examples of his work and feelings on architecture and sustainability, enjoyed by ourselves, our staff and our children - the unusual shapes and glorious light kept us all captivated until late into the evening.

He has returned to Japan with a piece of Wales in his heart, and we very much hope he returns to help us realise our plans for an earth structure on the Ty-Mawr site.

For more information and examples of his work - click here!

 

Rain!

After more rain in the last week than we have had in April for 260 years, according to the news and it has certainly felt like it from here, a break in the weather is giving the buildings at Ty-Mawr a chance to dry out...limewash lets you watch it happen gently encouraged by the breeze and even a little sunshine.

                     

It is a good time to see where there might be problems on the building if patches remain wet e.g. a faulty gutter or down-pipe, broken land drains, problems with roof/eaves. Please see our trouble-shooting sheet for further information but taking action now to remedy problems will help to prevent long term problems in our buildings caused by the ingress or trapping of moisture.

Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal

We were pleased to be invited to talk about the local limes kilns on the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal on BBC Radio 4's Open Country broadcast on the 26th April 2011 as part of their 200 year celebration. The 49-mile, canal built to transport coal and iron, lime and beer, winds its way south from Brecon to Cwmbran, Newport and Cwmcarn.

We have been working with the Canal's Trust, delivering training to volunteers as well as supplying materials for the repair of the canals to the Trust and British Waterways for many years - it is wonderful to think that the canals, made to transport lime for agriculture and building, is now being repaired with lime made locally some 200 years later.

 

Hay Festival Sponsorship

Ty-Mawr is pleased to be sponsoring Monty Don at this year's Hay Festival. Hay Festival has a special place in our hearts as I am from Hay originally and that is where Nigel and I met and lived during the early year's of the Hay Festival. It has been fascinating to watch it grow and pleasure every year to choose an event to sponsor. Through doing this, we have met hugely inspiring and passionate people including Tim Smit, Anita Roddick, Simon Thurley, Professor Nick Stern and Monty Don.

 

This year, he is talking about Gardening at Longmeadow - from the earliest snowdrops of January through the first splashes of colour in the Spring Garden, the electric summer displays of the Jewel Garden, the autumn harvest in the orchard, and on to a Christmas feast sourced from the vegetable gardens.

Monty has been a long time enthusiast of local materials and traditional skills, and hence customer as he practices what he preaches - which does so much to raise confidence in others venturing down this route.

For more information - visit the Hay Festival website!

 

Ty-Mawr at Ecobuild

        

This week, we attended EcoBuild at ExCel in London where our exhibition house was part of the Campaign for Wool stand along with Thermafleece. The theme was British wool and as such our Ty-Mawr Thermafleece insulation received a great deal of interest from those new to the idea and a huge amount of support and enthusiasm from those already specifying and benefiting from the products.

We also attended the Ideal Home exhibition where we visited the Prince's Arts and Crafts House showcasing a wide range of British crafts and products. Unfortunately, we were unable to commit to exhibiting this year, as we were already at Ecobuild, but it was good to catch up with the Campaign for Wool and the Prince's Foundation for Building Community and great to see natural, British products being showcased to such a wide audience - things have definately changed over the last few years and this can only be good for local industries, craftspeople as well the environment.

We so enjoyed our time in London being with so many people passionately pursuing sustainable building and products but it was very nice to return to Ty-Mawr in beautiful, spring sunshine and just in time for the school bus to be able to walk down the drive with the boys.

         

Traditional Building Skills Award

          

On the 14th March 2012, we were delighted to be invited to attend an award ceremony at Kenwood House, London where Nigel was presented with the prestigious Marsh Award for Traditional Building Skills
by Mr Brian Marsh O.B.E.

This annual award is given to an individual trainer who has demonstrated outstanding work within the built heritage sector and is generously sponsored by the Marsh Trust, run in partnership with English Heritage and CITB Construction Skills.

The Traditional Building Skills award is designed to recognise the contribution of an individual to the conservation of historic buildings specifically for ensuring that the necessary skills and knowledge are kept alive through their training and teaching. Nigel, who has been delivering traditional building skills courses since 1996, has now shared his endless enthusiasm with over 10,000 delegates from all over the world who have attended Tyˆ -Mawr’s core courses from contractors and apprentices to homeowners, architects and conservation officers and 1,000s more who have attended his talks and CPD seminars.

Some of the feedback from his recent courses...

‘very informative, with ample opportunity to relate to tutors individual concerns’ 

‘Great to talk to experienced individuals who were all very interested with our project’s needs and offered fantastic information which has definitely given me more confidence in approaching future work’ 

‘Absolutely brilliant! Friendly tutors – so informative while great fun’ 

‘Excellent course – the practical element was really useful and the chance to discuss our own projects and hear about other peoples. You have a great set-up, well-organised yet relaxed! Thank you very much!’

‘Best Course Ever!’ 

‘Great course all round – beautiful location and knowledgeable and friendly staff – I will recommend to others’ 

‘Fantastic day, thanks – great to have mix of talk / practical / hands-on and lots of useful info to take away’ 

‘Really useful and informative day, an excellent introduction to the use of lime, thanks! Very well pitched at the variety of attendees’

See our Spring Newsletter for more information and other news including an update on Technopor Recycled Foamed Glass in our insulated limecrete floors, The Prince opening the Bird hide constructed by the Summer School, Why insulate old buildings?, courses including a new Colour Day for 2012....

For more information ont he award - click here!

Roch Opening...

On Sunday 4th March, we were pleased to be invited to the opening of Roch Castle in Pembrokeshire to which we have been supplying materials since works commenced in 2008. Roch Castle, which was built early by Norman knight Adam de Rupe, had been continuously inhabited until damaged by Cromwell in the Civil War in 1646. It then lay in ruins until it became a private home after restoration work in 1900. Unfortunately, concrete floors were built within the medieval shell and an extension created to the original tower, the concrete was made of salty sea sand and pebbles, which caused the steel beams and reinforcement to corrode.

Mr Keith Griffiths said his foundation, which bought the castle in 2008, replaced all the floors and roof, and placed the entire building in a protective wrapping while the £6m refurbishment project was carried out developing an exceptional luxury retreat.

It was pleasure to see an entire restoration using only natural materials, the acoustics and environment were inspiring, every single guest commented on the special 'feel' within the refurbished castle.

To keep the walls breathing whilst upgrading the insulation, Acanthus Holden architects selected the calcium silicate board and finished with our lime hemp plaster, wood wool boards were also supplied for partition walls as plaster carrier as well as for good acoustic insulation. The work was carried out by Welsh Heritage Construction.

Building Excellence Awards!

I was happy to spend my birthday attending the Powys Local Authority Building Control Building Excellence Awards which we had partly sponsored for the second year running! Even within a year, there was a lot more evidence of local, more sustainable materials and lots of renewable technologies, it was therefore hugely encouraging and a great pleasure to be invited to present two of the awards in the Sustainability categories!

Joyce Gervis presenting awards in the Best Sustainable Project - Residential to Tai Dyfi Homes (Winner) and Chris James (Highly Commended), also Highly Commended was Jamie Richardson.

The event, held in Llandrindod Wells, saw projects being awarded and commended from barn conversions using local materials and green roofs to huge supermarkets made with entirely glulam structures.

We are again pleased to be working closely with the Local Authority Building Control nationally on accreditation of more of our products and systems. The insulated limecrete floor is now in its third year of LABC system type approval giving our clients the confidence that our flooring system will perfom for their requirements.

Meanwhile, on-site, we have finished our stone tile roof and the planting of our Diamond Jubilee Yew hedge around the recently restored pond, thanks to the help of one or two friends and an early invitation for a beer before the rugby! (Well done Wales!).

The stone wall into the orchard is complete and work on the stone wall (mortared) around the pond is nearing completion - always so much to do but we are feeling really excited that Ty-Mawr is going to be looking better than ever this summer - the to-do list is slowly diminishing!

Flying Start To 2012!

Ty-Mawr was thrilled to learn that they were successful in securing a further two years of training with Tywi Centre in Llandeilo for their Lime, Plastering, Lime Specification, Thatching, Traditional and Natrual Paints and Energy Efficiency Courses. We have already delivered the first of this series in January, a lime day for a group of heritage bursary students who are on placement with specialist masonry, plastering and carpentry contractors throughout Carmarthenshire.

Ty-Mawr  itself is also buzzing with the Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment completing the final stages of the bird hide. It really does look incredible with positive feedback from locals and birdwatchers alike! It was unveiled on the 2nd March by His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales.

                                       

The first group to come through was the Brecknock Wildlife Trust, who , after a long walk along the lake shore, finished at Ty-Mawr with a hot soup before yet more bird watching. Amongst other birds and water fowl, we were pleased to see an egret, 5 snipe, lots of siskin, grey lag geese and 3 pintail ducks.

 

                      

Work on the buildings has already started with Tom and Finn (Jones and Fraser) commencing a stone tile roof on the timber framed lean-to designed and constructed by the Prince's Foundation Summer School in 2010.

Nigel and I were pleased to be invited to the rebranding on the Prince's Foundation held at St James' Palace in London last week, where we were really heartened to hear one of the Summer School delegates talking warmly about the value of the Summer School and the importance of all our work in maintaining traditional skills and the supply of local, sustainable building materials!

The boys similarly are working every spare moment on their 'treehouse'...rather slower in construction...and not quite as beautiful as the other recent structures on site, but they are enjoying it and enjoying roping in help from family and visiting friends - expert help from Alan Thatcher and Sam Hale was particularly welcome! We will get there....

 

   

                

   

           Top - selecting wood for floorboard from the nicely sawn up tree thinnings from the site,

                                      Middle - Cai competently hammers!

                       Henry, Harvey and Cai Gervis discussing the crow's nest access!