In today’s blog, we want to share a new case study about the work we have carried out at Glyndebourne Opera House, a listed heritage building.
We will detail the work that we undertook to bring this fantastic building’s original flooring back to its best and explain how we can help with your next project too.
What is Glyndebourne?
Glyndebourne is a grade 2 listed country house near Lewes in East Sussex, England. It is thought to be around 600 years old! It is most famous for the opera house which hosts extravagant events and the world-famous Glyndebourne Festival Opera each year.
In the 1900s, the owner, John Christie, oversaw the construction of the first opera house at Glyndebourne. For many years after, the venue continued to grow as it hosted operas from around the world until it finally became necessary to expand to a new building in 1994.
The new building boasts incredible acoustics and a comfortable viewing experience for all in attendance; however, when the Glyndebourne team approached us, the wooden flooring had not been touched since it was first installed.
What did Sussex Floor Restoration do?
We were asked to provide a quote to restore the wood floors of the opera house whilst seating was removed for a performance, making it a perfect time to undertake a floor restoration.
There were a number of obstacles our team had to overcome, but, as always, we could handle anything that came our way and restore the floors to their former glory.
The first obstacle we had to overcome was the floor itself! Due to the design, the flooring was dome-shaped which created lots of different angles along the surface. This meant that using a conventional belt sander would not work, as it would cause the flooring to have uneven surfaces.
Our team overcame this using modern sanding equipment, which meant we could navigate the angles easily and ensure the floor was kept in good condition.
Next, we had to deal with the holes left from each seat being removed. In total there were around 200 holes to navigate around, and we made sure to plug each one to eliminate the risk of any airborne dust from getting into the hall underneath.
As well as these holes, the service points built into the floor also had to be covered and carefully sanded around, which was no issue for our team!
The final challenge was the tight timeframe we had to work with, as we only had the time between performances to complete the work. Of course, we were able to get everything done on time, and we also applied a premium 2k commercial lacquer to the floor afterward which still looks great now, one year on.
Wooden floor restorers near me – Glyndebourne Opera
If you are looking to get your wooden floors restored to a professional standard, why not get in touch with our team at 01444 810505. We’d be happy to go through our process with you and help get your flooring looking its best again.
