The Killowen Contracts team overcame many challenges while sensitively restoring and conserving the Grade A Listed Lanyon Building at Queen’s University Belfast.
One significant technical challenge, which the team creatively resolved, related to the new rectangular zinc lattice windows and the restoration of corroded windows – which have not been manufactured for over 100 years.
Detailed research and experimentation led to the discovery of the original construction formula enabling reconstruction and replacement.
Indeed, the discovery was quite a story and provided traditional building skills in the truest form – unlocking a seemingly insuperable technical problem. Research led us to an 85-year old former foundry worker located in a care home who, although his memory was failing him, recollected from his teenage apprentice years the exact formula of zinc, tin and lead required for the window heads.