Birmingham College of Art
Shaws of Darwen completed the restoration project at the Birmingham College of Art, with the renewal of highly decorative Victorian terracotta plaques, incorporated as window-heads in the original construction.

Dating from 1885, Birmingham College of Art was designed in the Victorian gothic style by John Henry Chamberlain and Martin. Chamberlain and Martin dominated architectural style in the city in the 1870’s and 80’s and were greatly influenced by Ruskin and the Arts and Crafts movement. The Grade 1 listed college was the first municipal art school in the country and has been in continuous use for over a century. Years of environmental pollution and neglect had led to serious deterioration of sections of the external structure, including nine ornate, individually designed terracotta plaques used as decorative feature panels to the side elevation.

Associated Architects were appointed to submit plans for building refurbishment, including provision of a schedule for external cleaning and repairs. Working in conjunction with the main contractor, Shaws of Darwen were approached to undertake a detailed site survey to evaluate the nature of damage to the terracotta and provide a report on the extent of remedial work required.

Having already been commissioned to work on numerous buildings in Birmingham including Caxton Gate, Newhall Street and Birmingham Children’s Hospital, we were again invited to demonstrate our skills to reproduce the highly sculpted window head panels.

To ensure accuracy in reproducing the plaques our sculptors visited site to take measurements and mouldings from the originals. A photographic record was taken for reference, together with terracotta samples which were returned to our laboratory for analysis, ensuring accuracy in blending and colour matching new to existing materials.

Each of the nine replacement plaques was constructed in three sections and supplied to site clearly referenced for fixing.

Although only small compared to many other contracts, this proved particularly interesting for our sculptors and demonstrated their artistic talents to the full.