Bodley’s Court

We are proud to have completed the renovation of the historic accommodation, Bodley’s Court part of King’s College Cambridge. The works comprised of the re-roofing of the existing 120-year old Collyweston Slates and external refurbishment to increase its longevity.

This scheme gained a fair amount of interest due to the unique Collyweston slate being used to replace the roofing. The original Collyweston mine near Peterborough (closed in the 1960s) was re-opened in 2018 to allow for the re-roofing works to this prestigious building to be carried out. Bodley’s Court secured the first c.150 tonnes of mined slate.

The scheme was delivered over three identical phases, which ran separately to accommodate the College’s requirements. The works comprised of high-quality craftsmanship and careful handling of the building’s historic features during their sympathetic restoration. Each phase took a total of 16 weeks to complete, whilst the accommodation was fully occupied by students (many of whom attended site visits).

The work encompassed many differing aspects to refurbishment the accommodation to not only conserve the building, but also to futureproof it for any further works. Each phase consisted of the following:

• Installation of a temporary roof.
• Refurbishment of the existing windows lights. Each window light was carefully removed, broken down and reconstructed and temporary windows inserted until restoration of the window lights were completed. 20% of the windows were able to remain in situ and restored in place.
• Removal of the existing Collyweston slate and re-laid the diminishing slate with mortar. (Each slate was recycled by the College).
• Full conservation of all sub straights and all necessary repairs of the original sub straights were treated for preservation.
• Installation of structural interlinking walkways to provide future provision for plant replacement.
• Stone repairs to the façade.
• Plumbing (leadwork) to the entire building including the gutters to comply with LDA regulations.
• Ecology factors including installation of bat hotels in the loft and placement of bat slates within the roof structure.

The quality of the craftmanship on this scheme is testament to the amazing skilled tradesmen that have been involved, helping to restore this historic student accommodation to its former glory.