Category 4: Large Renovation Projects
Professional residential/domestic restoration, refurbishment or extension costing more than £250,000
Project: Conversion of a listed flax mill into a 9 bedroom family home
Builder: Corryard Developments, Crieff, Perthshire
Client: John Burke
NO STONE UNTURNED
The judging panel was blown away by the sheer scale of this project and the builder’s absolute refusal to be defeated by any aspect of the project.
Client John Burke of Crieff in Perthshire turned to Bartek Zawilinski of Corryard Developments to help achieve his dream of turning an 1832 flax mill into a stunning family home.
While John acted as project manager alongside Bartek, the quality of workmanship and the builder’s relentless determination returned the derelict mill, previously used by local farmers to house their cows, into a stunning landmark historic building and family home.
The success of this very complex and technically challenging project was down to the close working relationship between Bartek and John. It was clear that Bartek shared the passion and love of the mill with his client and he left no stone unturned in his effort to deliver the perfect project.
The complex building work and energy required to see this project through to a conclusion would have challenged the resolve of many builders, but not that of Bartek.
His numerous challenges ranged from excavating through six feet of cow dung to reach the original floor of the mill, installing a staggering 1.3 kilometers of pipes underground for a ground source heat pump to heat the home and working with a lime supplier to get a perfect match with the original mortar to meet the requirements of Historic Scotland. Each window in the mill is a different size so 56 bespoke windows had to be precisely sized, manufactured and fitted. Corryard also restored the original water wheel and water courses.
The front wall was found to be dangerous, so had to be dismantled and rebuilt under the close scrutiny of Historic Scotland inspectors. While the entire roof structure needed replacing, which involved salvaging 3,000 original Ballachulish slates, re-dressing and re-using them. The original cast iron down pipes and hoppers were also recovered and refurbished and Bartek found a clever way of avoiding these being visible from the front of the mill.
When they realised a special damp-proof membrane needed to be installed on the rear wall, Bartek, who had never installed this system before, rose to the task by studying technical papers from the internet and installed it perfectly.
John Burke said: “Bartek provided a fixed price contract with a guaranteed start and finish date. They worked every weekend for six weeks to ensure the project finished on time.
“This was by far the biggest job Bartek had ever undertaken and his dedication and attention to detail was second to none. The project management and scheduling was very professional and no stone was left unturned in the planning phase. Bartek and his team were always on site and continuously delivered on their promises. Every change in scope was handled professionally and with no hassle. The attention to detail was amazing.”
