The Category A-Listed Walmer Crescent, (1857-62 by architect Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson) within the Walmer Crescent Conservation Area, suffers from problems of water ingress both via the main roof (a double roof with broad lead valley gutter) and also via the shared bay windows. Unfortunately, the poorly detailed lead flat roofs to the bay windows were an issue given that the unusual double bay windows straddle and interlock the various tenements into a single terrace composition. That there was only one drainage outlet per double bay meant that multiple closes had to be involved in their repair. This was proving a major stumbling block for the owners as well as a significance source of conflict between neighbours.

Working with the Walmer Crescent Association, the Trust proposed repairing all of the bay window roofs in a single phase as this would then allow each close to come up with their own proposals for tackling the repairs required to the tenement main roofs. The Trust’s suggestion, which was well received, was to offer the owners a 75% grant intervention rate to make this more attractive to them.

The repairs were carried out between October 2017 and June 2018, and have been discretely celebrated with new lead hoppers to each bay. These hoppers are dated 2017 so as to denote the new work.