The Rows

Our work on The Rows in Chester, has conserved as much of the historic fabric by carrying our essential repair work to the balustrades, ceilings and flanking walls. Where repair work was carried out, consequential redecoration works where also carried out. Where consequential redecoration was required, this was taken as an opportunity to reintroduce period colour schemes to help distinguish between the varying ages and styles of property seen across the Rows, from Elizabethan and Jacobean, through to Georgian and Regency, and eventually ending with Victorian and the 20^th Century.

Where historic timber stallboards remain, they have been repaired and redecorated. However, as many of the historic timber stallboards have been lost, we again took this as an opportunity to reintroduce material authenticity, with any concreted-over stallboards being overclad with traditional oak boards, sized and orientated to reflect the particular period of each individual property.

The work involved permanent enhancements to the historic fabric of the Rows to reconnect owners, traders and the wider community with the historic value of the Rows and improve their recognition as a unique heritage designation of national and international significance.

In summary the works consisted of:

• Repair and refinish historic timber stallboards
• Remove later addition finishes to the stalboards and overclad with oak boards.
• Repair and redecorate the existing ceilings and flanking walls
• Remove any redundant modern signage and make good the underlying substrate
• Repair and redecorate the existing balustrades
• Retrofit the existing cast aluminium light fittings to the walkway with warm LEDs
• Install new cast aluminium warm LED downlighters to the steps