Glebelands, Wokingham

Client: The Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund

Role: Architecture & Environmental Services

Glebelands House is a Grade ll Listed building on an 11 acre site close to Wokingham town centre. It is owned and run by the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund as a nursing home for those who have worked in the industry ‘behind the camera’. Like many care homes of its generation the accommodation had fallen behind current standards and was inefficient in terms of care delivery.

The brief to PRP was for the overall redevelopment of the site, including the restoration and upgrading of the existing facilities and the provision of a range of new accommodation for elder people with varying levels of care requirements. The new extensions have been designed in a modern vernacular style to complement the existing house, without resort to pastiche.

Conservation work included surveying the building envelope and scheduling all necessary repairs, which were then categorised in order of significance and costed to allow the client to appropriately prioritise works. The repairs included; brick and stone piecing, cleaning, replacement, removal of redundant metal fixings and filling; removal of vegetation, replacement of rotten decorative timber, replacement of flagpole, lead roof repair and replacement, including flashings, repair and replacement of cast iron rainwater goods, replacement of leaded light windows, easing, redecoration and repair of retained windows, damp proofing works, external timber door restoration, repair including ironmongery and an general reversal of inappropriate historical repairs.