Impressive 1911 London Hotel Urns and stunning 1920's stone doorway at Salvo Fair 2009

Above: One of a pair of stone urns from Normandie Hotel, Knightsbridge, London coming to Salvo Fair 2009. £3,500 + vat for the pair























Above: The urns will be on V&V Reclamation's stand at Salvo Fair, who are the most local exhibitor to Knebworth House, and have had a jumbo pitch for six years.























Above: A stone shield, also from the Normandie Hotel, Knightsbridge, London and coming to Salvo 2009. £1,200 + vat

First stop at the Salvo Fair this year for many people will be the jumbo pitch shared by Jason Davies of Architectural Forum, Islington, London and Ed Pearce of V & V Reclamation, Herts. Jason and Ed make a herculean effort every year, being the first exhibitors on site, and normally the last to leave, and filling their artic lorry size pitch with all kinds of wonderous exhibits!

This year, making an appearance, will be two tall stone urns and a shield from the old Knightsbridge Palace Hotel, which was built in 1911. It was renamed the Normandie Hotel in 1937 and closed in 1977. Since then the site has been subject to many proposals, most involve returning to hotel use. In 2006, Waterloo Real Estate was granted permission to build a 155 room hotel for the Bulgaris hotel chain. As a result of the renovation the urns were removed from the hotel exterior from four storeys up.

Also on the V&V-Architectural Forum pitch will be a beautiful stone 10ft high doorway from St Barnabas Church vicarage, Lavender Hill in Battersea. The vicarage was built in 1926, and was demolished to make way for a smaller, more financially viable building, as many our these days.

Below: The carved heads of saints on the St Barnabas Vicarage doorway built 1926, coming to Salvo 2009. Doorway priced at £2,500 + vat


















































St Barnabas Church News
Times Online: Normandie Hotel
V&V Reclamation

The House that Kevin (McCloud) Built comes to Salvo Fair

Reusefully is a newly established reclamation company focusing on surplus and reusable building products, based in Northamptonshire. Run by experts in construction waste minimisation and site waste management planning, offering a practical solution by matching supply and demand, Reusefully provides a free collection service for surplus and good quality used building products. This can be from any local building site, household or premises where there is a need to remove these products/materials. We also supply reclaimed building products and materials, adding value where appropriate, and can provide data on the amount of material reused, represented by carbon savings

Reusefully will have various products available at Salvo Fair, including a range of garden planters made from 'the House that Kevin (McCloud) Built', last seen on Grand Designs Live 2008. Unfortunately, the roof and upper floor engineered components were unable to be reused in their original application so we transformed them into unique, durable and practical reusefully roof2garden planters. Various other products will be displayed, so come and browse. Younger viewers, and those with smallish hands, can also take part in our lucky dip.

Contact details: Gilli & Kath tel: 01604 289007

Reusefully website (site under construction)

More good publicity for the reclamation industry on national television

"When Jules and the team from Escape to the Country were looking to do a follow up program to link with those they had done featuring chapel conversions, their natural first port of call was Bristol’s Robert Mills Ltd.

"Robert Mills’ chairman, Colin Scull, will happily talk to anyone (at great length) about gothic detailing, the uses of gothic items and all the different ways of modifying and re-using them. While the TV crew were there they also picked Colin’s brains on barn conversions.

"Jules Hudson and his film crew came to the Robert Mills Ltd Bristol warehouse last November. Part of that filming is to be aired tonight, 3rd June 2009, on BBC 2 at 5.15pm, when you can catch Colin’s gothic pearls of wisdom. Another Escape to the Country on barn conversions will be aired on Thursday 4th, again featuring the Robert Mills showroom," said Kate from Robert Mills.

Robert Mills

Inovative reuse

Above: There is a lot of creative reuse going on out there, and a great example are these Repurposed Truck Spring Kitchen Stools.

apartment therapy

Accolade for historic development

The Merchant's House, in Shepton Mallet, won the accolade of Project of The Year in the 2009 Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) South West Awards, hosted by Bob Constantine, former business and political editor for ITV.

The award is presented to a scheme judged to have excelled in one or more of the other award categories, which include building conservation, community benefit, regeneration and sustainability.

The development, entered by JM Renovations, involved conservation and restoration of a derelict Grade II-listed 17th century wool merchant's house, returning it to a family home. The project has seen the exposure and restoration of historic features including fireplaces, and the rebuilding and repair of cellar vaults.

The man behind the project and the owner of the property, Jon Maine, said: "I thought we had a fair chance of winning, although I didn't expect two awards. My total involvement with the building spans 17 years and the last five have been very hard work. I'm ecstatic to have been named as the overall winner."

Merchant's House now automatically goes forward to the national awards, the winners of which will be announced on October 16 and presented by Kevin McCloud at a special ceremony held at the Honourable Artillery Company, in London.

This is Somerset

Inventor of public lavatory honoured in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

George Jennings, the inventor of the first public lavatory, has been honoured alongside the man who created the modern dustbin in a series of new entries to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

As the edition focuses for the first time on people who have improved the domestic habits of Britain, such as gardeners, landscape architects and domestic engineers.

George Jennings gains a place for having invented the first public lavatories for the Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace in 1851. He charged one penny for the innovative concept, which led to the expression "spending a penny".

Potter Thomas Twyford (1849 -1921) who produced the first one-piece china toilet, and John Shanks (1825-1895), one of the first people who mass-produced lavatories and fitted out the Titanic bathrooms, join fellow Victorian Sir Thomas Crapper, who improved the flush toilet, in the dictionary.

The Telegraph

Antiques are Green Campaign is Launched

Taken from: Antiques Trade Gazette 18 May 2009

“Our product is sustainable, re-usable and re-saleable. We must all work to make people aware that antiques are green.” So says Beaconsfield dealer Nigel Worboys.

"I have had a retail shop for a number of years but it is only recently that I have really begun to speak to customers about the obviously green credentials of antiques. Now I find that after a few minutes’ conversation on the subject there is a look of recognition as the customer first relates antiques to recycling.

"As the conversation progresses, it also becomes evident that there are no additional greenhouse gases being produced as a result of their purchase, no rain forests will be depleted or additional raw materials used.

"The customer is now feeling more comfortable about the purchase in the knowledge that 'antiques are green'. They can justify their purchase and they now have that feel-good factor on top.

"But wouldn’t it be far easier for us all if the buying public at large were aware of all this before they came in to see us? If they already knew antiques were green because they had read it on numerous occasions. Now that opportunity is here and I hope that we all unite – dealers, auctioneers, fair organisers, restorers, publishers, in fact anybody involved in the trade – to make this a roaring success.

My proposals for achieving this is;
*To promote additional sales and the preservation of antiques by capitalising on their green credentials.
*To attract a new audience who might not have considered antiques before.
*To present antiques as an alternative to a new purchase.
*To develop a sustainable 'Not for Profit' business that can continue to support the Antiques are Green message.
*To raise funds for green projects that are related to the trade, such as tree-planting.
*To offer help, advice and incentive for the trade to reduce its carbon footprint."


Antiques Trade Gazette