“We recently engaged Guild Architectural Restoration through a competitive tender process to refurbish and redecorate our chapel buildings at Hendon Cemetery & Crematorium. This was a 12 week project, but it was essential for us to be able to offer a full funeral service throughout this project. The Guild team were highly professional, and flexible in their approach which allowed us to continue our business as usual with the absolute minimum of disruption.
The project management was excellent and the work carried out was done to a high standard, delivered on time and on budget. Senior management was highly visible throughout the project and easily contactable if not on site and they dealt with ad hoc variations in work scope of the work extremely well.
I do not envisage that this project could have been any smoother, and our key stakeholders are delighted with the results.”
Growth & Transformation Manager, London Borough of Barnet
“Guild Architectural Restoration Ltd recently completed a renovation of a converted stable block which had been suffering with significant damp issues due to poor building techniques used on the past. The project was completed sympathetically with the grade 1 listing that the estate holds and involved roof repairs, repairs to masonry, repointing and harling (wet dash) with lime-based mortar to external walls. Internally works included, re-plastering, redecoration, new kitchen and flooring.
Work was completed on time and communication was good with Zak, who took the time to come to the site for regular updates with the architect and gave clear explanations for any scope changes required. The team caused minimal disruption to the organisation. We would be happy to work with Zak and his team again in the future.”
C Busby – Chiswick House & Gardens Trust
“I found Guild Architectural Restoration Ltd through the ICON Conservation Register while looking for advice on how to improve the condition of some stained glass panels that form part of the Royal College of Physicians museum. GAR did a site visit and provided a detailed condition report of the glass and proposals for restoring the panels and re-displaying them in a safer way; this in itself provided us with a lot of information about the make up panels which we did not previously know. The work on the panels was carried out off-site with a final day to re-fit them in their normal location. GAR were very helpful throughout the whole process, being sensitive to the limitations of the building (which is listed), willing to explain the more technical aspects and being very flexible with their time – I was particularly grateful for their patience while we awaited a funding decision. The documentation provided was clear and detailed, and the finished panels look many times better than they did previously, while their new frames provide them with much-needed protection. I would not hesitate to recommend GAR, and will definitely keep them in mind myself for future projects.”
L Jones – Royal College of Physicians
“We have very recently completed the extensive external restoration works at The Lazarus Building in East London. These works included terracotta renewals, brick restoration, in-situ repairs, cleaning, pointing, metal work, external lighting system, painting and decoration.
Zak has been involved from the very beginning of these works to the finish. In fact, we first met Zak when he was working for another company who were initially involved in these works but we were so impressed with Zak that we actually followed him until he founded his own company, Guild Architectural Restoration.
We have always found Guild to be punctual, polite, knowledgeable and enthusiastic about their work. They kept us informed every step of the way by drawing attention to any problems that were uncovered during the course of the works and they always provided detailed explanations of problems and offered a range of solutions to suit the budget. Zak is clearly a person who is passionate about the restoration of old buildings and he takes great pride in his work. He is prepared to go the extra mile for his clients. I would not only use Guild AR again but I would also highly recommend them to others who are looking to restore their historic properties.”
Matt Johnson – Lazarus Limited
“We recently completed the restoration of the Garrick Theatre, Charing Cross Road on behalf of Nimax Theatres Ltd. The works were complicated and had to be undertaken in an extremely taxing time frame and with the added complication of the theatre always being in use during the works.
The contract called for extensive stone repairs, new lead work to cornices and projecting features, joinery repairs, metal work repairs and redecoration. The works were undertaken in a number of phases and were completed on time and below the contract price despite periods of very poor weather.
The success of the project is testament to the exemplary manner that Zak organised and ran the works. There was periods of extreme pressure but he was always calm, always polite to ourselves and more importantly his working colleagues and thoroughly professional and very skilled.
This is the second complicated project we have undertaken with Zak and both times it has been a real pleasure to undertake a commission together”.
J Monahan – Director, MBH Architects
“I worked with Zak for over 18 months during the £1.2 million restoration of the grade 2* listed building for the University of East London where I was Surveyor & Contract Administrator. I found him to be honest, reliable, knowledgeable and efficient. We developed a good working relationship and I would be happy to work with him again”.
P Simpson – Partner, Bailey Simpson and Associates LLP
I hired Guild Architectural Restoration as the contractor for some damaged steps in a conservation area that needed replacing completely. After initial issues with my architect Guild stepped in, took over the whole project, went beyond the call of duty and did a fantastic job creating some beautiful new steps. I couldn’t recommend them highly enough.
Private Client – London
We used Guild AR Ltd to repair the interior of an external wall in our warehouse conversion. The existing pointing & repairs had been done badly using cement where lime mortar should have been used. A number of the old bricks needed to be replaced with reclaimed imperial sized bricks to match the original and all the existing cement based pointing had to be removed manually. It was a job we were dreading having done as it is messy and labour intensive. Guild AR did a first class job. They were straightforward and very efficient to deal with. They turned up when they said they would, cleared up after themselves and took pride in what they did. Their specialist knowledge was excellent. We would use them again.
Private client – London
Guild Architectural Restoration 