Issue 36 2023 - Journal - Page 15
Award win for established
specialist plastering company
An established company has been handed an industry award after a specialist project to
restore an historic building. Artisan Plastercraft, based in Kent, has been recognised for the
impressive restoration work on the Grade II* listed Grand Hotel in Birmingham.
Artisan Plastercraft spent 12 months reinstating new
elevations of decorative plaster mouldings for areas such
as cornice and picture rails. They provided conservation
and repairs to existing mouldings and manufactured and
installed new fibrous plaster mouldings in their entirety
to match what would have been original.
The fibrous plastering and lime plastering carried out by
Artisan was named winner of the Heritage Plastering
category of the Finishes & Interiors Sector (FIS) 2022
Contractors Awards.
The work was also nominated for the Gypsum Trophy
Awards, organised by Saint-Gobain and British Gypsum,
for contractors who accomplish impossible feats with
world-class materials.
The company also undertook a programme of lime plaster
repairs to a number of interior walls and the ceiling of the
Madeleine bar.
At the Grand Hotel, which originally opened in 1879,
Artisan restored the fibrous plaster suspended ceilings in
the Grosvenor Room, a stunning and ornate ballroom,
and the Grosvenor Balcony which overlooks it.
The FIS judges described the work at the Grand Hotel as
“an excellent and extensive restoration to a hotel that had
fallen into a considerable degree of disrepair… meticulous
attention to detail and intricate workmanship delivered
an excellent final result”.
The Grosvenor Balcony ceiling in-particular had suffered
significant water damage and Artisan secured it before
taking squeezes of the enrichments in order to replicate
and reinstate the decorative plaster.
The work was part of a 20-year, £45 million refit to the
fascinating and historic building.
Above, Grand Hotel grand ballroom from balcony
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Conservation & Heritage Journal
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