Shakespeare Hospice

A funding project for this hospice in Stratford-upon-Avon was looking vulnerable due to time and financial constraints when we were called upon to give advice on building an extension.

We sleuthed the attic to see if it could become a useable space, but found it had been built using fink trusses that gave no room to work in, and were not designed to bear the weight of a floor. However, this led us to the solution, namely a flat-roof design, but of the same height as the original pitched model.

To make this change we had to remove the old roof – all the while being sympathetic to the needs of some very poorly people who were receiving day care. Then the heavens opened and gave us the wettest three months on record, but we couldn’t take a rain check because the funding deadline had to be met.

There were a few buckets in place on occasions, but only a few, and all in all it proved to be a successful project. Part of the pleasure we derived came from the hospice staff and patients, who were so understanding of the difficulties we faced.