Castle Drogo appoints new contractor to complete conservation project

The National Trust has appointed a new contractor to complete the third and final phase of the five year project repairing and conserving Castle Drogo. Dӕdalus Conservation will be picking up the reigns to continue work making the castle watertight and structurally sound, after the previous contractor went into administration last year.

The firm, who have over 25 years of experience managing conservation building work, will be taking the project to completion, starting work at the castle in May this year. Now well over half way, the project is scheduled to finish by the end of 2018.

Work will start in earnest on the north wing of the castle, repointing the whole of this section, installing a new roof membrane and conserving the windows from 8th May.

Since the previous contractor went into administration, many of the sub-contractors have been engaged to complete Phase 2 of the project. They have continued work on the castle to complete the waterproofing of the south wing and central tower, also completing the snagging and remedial works. This is now nearing completion and the roof is looking fantastic. The scaffolding will start to be dismantled early in May fully revealing the south wing.

Dӕdalus Conservation have extensive knowledge of the traditional trades, coupled with experience managing highly specialist works to some of Britain’s most outstanding buildings. They have worked on Hampton Court Palace, Cliveden House, Clandon Park, Berkshire and Westminster Abbey.

Tim Cambourne, Project Manager at Castle Drogo said, ‘We’re really pleased to have the team at Dӕdalus on board to see the project through to completion.

This year the rooms in the castle have been redisplayed to focus on the Drewe family and the original building work 100 years ago. The Dining Room focuses on the travels of Julius and Frances Drewe through the souvenirs they brought back. While the Drawing Room tells the story of the five Drewe children and how their lives were affected by the First World War. In addition, artists Mdesign have taken inspiration from the archive and the building works to create installations to tell the story of the building.

Visitors can also come along to see the building project work in progress at the next ‘Meet the builder’s’ day on Saturday 3rd June, 11am-4pm where they’ll be running activities and demonstrations.

Pictured: National Trust Senior Project Manager, Tim Cambourne and Gary Jones, General Manager, Dӕdalus Conservation. Image: National Trust/April Braund.