WELLINGTON TOWN HALL Debating Chamber & Lantern Ceiling

DEBATING CHAMBER : Major seismic strengthening works required the construction of an 800mm-thick reinforced concrete wall, altering the Debating Chamber ceiling's curve radius. This necessitated complete removal & salvage of the original curved Fleur ceiling panels & Beam cladding. Reinstatement of the original Fleur panels & replacement panels required precise hand scribing to match the newly altered curvature. LANTERN CEILING: All original pressed metal panels were removed, cleaned, labelled & reinstated after replacement of rotted roof timbers & upgrades to mechanical & fire systems.

2022 -2024

Naylor Love

Wellington New Zealand

DEBATING CHAMBER : Major structural works were needed in the Debating Chamber to stabilize the exterior wall for earthquake proofing. The stabilizing of the wall included reinforcing the wall with concrete up to 800mm thick which moved the wall into the existing footprint of the building, altering the substructure timber framing & ultimately changing the curve radius of the exterior wall while the internal side walls remained the same. Use of a mobile scaffold was required to unpick all of the original curved ceiling panels in the Fleur design. The Beam Cladding was also unpicked & removed to allow for fire service sprinklers to be installed. During the unpicking stage it was discovered that the Flower Boss & P Round Rail on the beams were replicated in lead, estimated to have been done in the 60's to replace the damaged Flower Boss & Rails. Due to the weight of these lead elements being a safety issue if they fell from heights, they were removed & reproduced in soft zinc before being reinstated. Damaged sections of the Beam Cladding were replaced using 6'' Beam Cladding from the Australian Pressed Metal catalogue. After being carefully unpicked, the original Fleur panels were chemically stripped & flattened prior to reinstallation. Approximately 30% of the original pressed metal panels were salvageable & the remainder of the panels were replaced with Imperial Fleur design panels to match in seamlessly with the original panels. Reinstatement of the original & Imperial Fleur panels involved meticulous attention to detail as the new curve radius needed to be carefully hand scribed to match the newly created ceiling curves. With the final coat of paint the restoration of the Debating Chamber ceiling was seamlessly restored to its original elegance.  LANTERN CEILING :  The scope of works of the Lantern area adjoining the Debating Chamber were of a smaller scale in comparison to other areas of the Wellington Town Hall. The original pressed metal panels were carefully removed, cleaned, labelled & stored for future reinstatement. Roof timbers were replaced due to wood rot & the updating of mechanicals & fire services was completed. After all structural works were completed, the original panels, which were 100% salvageable due to the skilful removal procedures, were expertly reinstated & the ceiling restored to its original splendour.