Squerryes Court

Westerham, Kent

Squerryes Court is a large, Grade I listed country house set in 2,500 acres in Westerham, Kent. Built in 1681, it has been occupied by the Warde family since 1731. Valley Builders were contracted by Henry Warde to undertake extensive refurbishment and extension works during 2014, 2015 & 2016.

The Squerryes Court project involved considerable electrical and mechanical upgrading works, structural remedial works to the vaulted brickwork support columns in the cellar, drainage, and renewal of defective timber-sash windows.

An extension was constructed to provide a new entrance hall, cloakroom & boot room. New bathrooms and a bespoke kitchen were installed, internal areas were remodelled, and new oak and tiled floors laid. Complete internal and external decorations and external landscaping finished the project.

Extensive temporary support was needed to ensure the stability of the structure as some of the original external walls were 900mm thick. We had to employ our own structural engineers to design the temporary support whilst new permanent support steelwork was installed. We worked closely with the client’s structural engineer to agree a workable solution to this element of the work.

Squerryes Court continued to host weddings and local fetes within the grounds, so our programme had to accommodate dates when no works could be undertaken. It also meant that we had to carry out the extensive external repairs and redecoration work using cherry pickers instead of scaffolding the property.

Naturally, working on a Grade I listed building meant we had to ensure all works were carefully planned and any changes to the specification agreed in advance with the architect and conservation officer.