Graffham School to get £300,000 cosy new roof

The aim is to carry out the work during the coming summer holidays and finish it off in the long vacation a year later, to minimise disruption to the school and for the health and safety of its children.

The current roof has been leaking for a while, causing concern that the lath-and-plaster ceilings inside the building might collapse. Some of the tiles have slipped down the steep roof after the original timber pegs holding them in place failed.

Also, because it was originally built in Victorian time, it has no insulation, making the structure expensive and inefficient to heat.

Adding to the challenges, the school occupies one of only two buildings within the diocese education portfolio that is Grade II listed and is in a conservation area, so any renovations have to be carried out particularly sensitively.

The plan is to replace the pitched roof covering the original school building, using handmade tiles fixed using aluminium pegs, while introducing ventilation to the roof spaces and upgrading the insulation. Roof timbers will be replaced or reinforced if necessary. Lead flashing in valleys and around chimneys will be renewed and skylights replaced.

Inside, lath-and-plaster ceiling finishes, where they have been subject to damp and disturbance, will also be renewed.

All will be done on a like-for-like basis, in sympathy with the special building that it is.

Three bat surveys have been conducted at twilight to ensure the works are not likely to disturb wildlife and the roof closely examined by a drone – which made the day for the pupils who were at school at the time.

It will be the third public building in Graffham to have roof works in the past year after steeplejacks made repairs to the top of St Giles Church last autumn and tilers carried out maintenance work on the Empire Hall in the winter.