A day in the life of... Nigel Dyer - heritage services manager at Wienerberger

“Our Heritage Service is a specialist conservation and restoration service that creates bespoke, handmade roof tiles and fittings. My role as Heritage Services Manager is to help manage these projects, watching beautiful buildings be lovingly restored to their formal glory. As everything we produce is bespoke, each project I work on is completely new, different and exciting.

Heritage roofing is key to a heritage build. A third of what you see is the roof, with it crowning every building. If you had a medieval building with a machine-made tile on the roof, it would change the whole character of the structure. We supply appropriate clay roof tiles, through our Keymer brand, that will have the correct profile, colour and texture to be in keeping with the age and style of a building, as well as it’s surrounding environment.

Bespoke products are extremely important for heritage projects. Architects often come to us in search of a tile specifically for a listed building, usually one that is no longer manufactured. When we receive this type of request the process can sometimes involve taking an original sample and reverse engineering it, to create an effective replica. These often have to then meet Listed Building Regulations and may need approval from Historic England or the National Trust, making concise planning and great skill, vital to the whole process.”

The creative process

“A heritage roofing job tends to begin with an enquiry from an architect, either via our website, a direct phone call or through a recommendation from a client. Trade shows play an important part in attracting work, and give us the chance to discuss projects with architects and potential clients, and inform them about our services. One example of a heritage project that we have recently worked on, is Grevel Lane in the Cotswolds. We met architects, Lawrence Grigg and Lydia Robinson from Design Storey, an Architecture and Development Company, at the Listed Property exhibition. We found out that they were looking to adapt a traditional 1950s building and add a contemporary extension.

Not only did the renovation need to create a usable space, and add bespoke features. But, it also needed to complement the existing architecture, adapting to the façade of the vertical tiles on the wall and roof. Furthermore, it was vital that the colour of the new tiles complemented the existing palette of materials of Cotswold stone walls and concrete tiled roof.  To meet these criteria, our Heritage Service was selected to design and create bespoke, handmade roof tiles for the project, evoking the arts and crafts heritage of the area.

Once a brief like this has been received, we gather our thoughts, consider what products we could adapt for a client and offer them options. From there, we set up more in-depth meetings that could be on site, in their office or they might even come to the factory. For the Grevel Lane project we invited the architects to one of our factories to see a mock roof section we had created, illustrating the concept and enabling our craftsmen to design the bespoke fittings.

Once the client is happy with the product created, further planning begins. A fair amount of this, is passed on to our Technical Services Team to understand the design involved. For example, the installation of the tile may need further consideration. The bespoke tiles we create are often unusual and non-standard, and therefore special fixings may be required.

Our projects are very hands on and our service goes beyond simply creating the product and delivering it. A skilled roofer is necessary for installing bespoke tiles and this is one of the main challenges we tend to face. We aim to resolve this by offering our expert advice to roofers throughout the process, and visiting the site to provide hands-on guidance. Our Heritage Services Team aims to go above and beyond, to ensure the tile is fitted correctly and that the finish is of a high standard.”

Old meets new

“We are beginning to see a trend in heritage roofing whereby architects are looking to use bespoke roof tiles on contemporary buildings. This includes social housing, where we are beginning to see a focus on aesthetic rather than solely on cost. Alongside this, modern buildings tend to look very similar and architects seek individuality. Many people like the appearance of old architecture, and want to replicate this on new projects through the use of homemade tiles. Caring Wood, RIBA House of the Year 2017, is a good example of this, where the architect wanted bespoke products on a new build to fit in with the local environment.”

Making vision a reality

“We have a brilliant and dedicated Heritage Services team at Wienerberger . Come to us and the world is your oyster; if an architect has the design, we have the capabilities. Architects are more ambitious than ever, and with some of the best architects in the world based in the UK, we want to help make their creative and industry-leading ideas come to life.”