Plumstead Library on Plumstead High Street, London SE18. Grade 2 listed.

The original building was completed and opened in 1904 and was one of the first projects built with the financial assistance of the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.

2018  saw the beginning of the transformation of the library to create a multifunctional library, leisure, cultural and sports centre, whilst retaining the features of this Grade 2 listed building.

Heritage Plaster services were pleased to work alongside Macai Construction Limited throughout the heritage and conservation areas of the original library building.  The main bulk of these heritage restoration works being to the large “Vault” room situated on the first floor and made up of 12 large separate vaults leading to skylights to allow in the natural light that exists throughout this space.

As a part of the transformation, the roof and glazing to the skylights required a complete replacement, whilst the damage caused to the original plasterwork on the ceiling through historic alterations also needed to be rectified and replaced as it would have been originally.

In order to do so, the areas of damage were all secured and loose or damaged sections removed. The original works had been completed with a cementitious coarse base coat applied over a metal lathing framework with a lime finish and lime mouldings applied to this base coat.

Due to the variations in the scope of damage at each section, a bespoke package of repairs was required to be created at each point. In some sections, it was possible to recreate the background surface with the existing metal and new application of a renovation plaster, in others a preformed panel was cast and installed. Once the background surfaces were completed the new mouldings were applied and completed.