7 PORTAFERRISSABUILDING

The internal structural walls of this building were built in the 15th century and the last refurb was carried out by Elias Rogent in the 1850s. The majority of the building has been untouched since and 90% empty for nearly 70 years prior to our refurb. We literally had to dig our way in - new rooms were a frequent discovery including secret civil war refuges. As the main structural walls were up to 1.2m (4ft.) thick they were repaired but rarely demolished. Virtually everything horizontal had to be demolished and rebuilt, slabs, beams, vaults and domes of up to 50m2 (544sq.ft.). The second major challenge was to incorporate all modern utilites into such a old fabric - and I'm not referring to cabling ADSL. The building had no sewage system and no running water. The refurb took 6 years to complete and is now catalogued on the national monument list.