London
Victorian Villa — Drawing Room
Bay window room, cornice & oak flooring
The project
The bay window drawing room of the Victorian Villa, with restored cornice, reinstated shutters and a new oak floor laid over an insulated, ventilated void.
The effort behind it
The original floor was beyond saving but the joists were not, so the team lifted, cleaned and re-levelled them and built a ventilated insulated void below — a fortnight of unseen work that made the room usable in winter. Shutters were rebuilt from one surviving leaf and now fold back into the reveals exactly as designed.
Challenges faced
The hardest part of Victorian Villa — Drawing Room was what nobody could see until the work began. Hidden defects in the existing structure forced redesigns mid-programme, and consents in London meant every method statement went through a third party before a tool was lifted. The team held the programme by resequencing whole phases rather than cutting corners on the phase in front of them.
Team & involvement
Delivery was led by a working site manager with a core crew of our own trades, supported by structural engineers, building control and specialist subcontractors we have worked with for over a decade. Morning briefings, a live programme on the wall and photographic records of every concealed stage meant the client in London always knew exactly where their project stood.
A successful outcome
Victorian Villa — Drawing Room was handed over on programme and within the agreed budget, with building control sign-off at the first inspection of every notifiable stage. The client moved back in on the date we gave them at tender — and the aftercare visit twelve months later found nothing to put right. That is the standard every DBS project is measured against.
