It’s all in the detail?

: Detail of one of Croome’s beautiful doors

A week of extremes. We are working through the detail of the building work with our team of Architect, Curator, and House Manager in order to specify the work and get contractors to tender. If we don’t get this right now we don’t get the job right in the end, and when you are dealing with such an important place we have a duty, a responsibility, to get it right. We are following in footsteps of great craftsmen and men of vision that created Croome Court and how we repair it now will add a new layer of history to the place. We have the added issues such as how to get 30 minutes fire rating to an 18th century mahogany door without affecting its integrity and how to put a modern closer on to an historic door in order to pass fire regulations whilst not making the place feel municipal. All challenges for the team and ones that can only be met through painstaking attention to the detail and working through it door by door, window by window, floor by floor.

So, is it all in the detail? Definitely yes, but also no! We have to get the detail right but in this project we are doing much more than repairing a country house and keeping an eye on the bigger picture is crucial to success. With this in mind we had a planning session with all the team looking at the next 4 years, bringing together in one place all the various strands of work going on at the property. Rolls of lining paper fixed to the walls became covered in the biggest Gantt chart you can imagine and everyone became both amazed, excited and slightly daunted by just how much is planned over the next 4 years. Actually creating the bigger picture together and seeing it all in front of us was a great exercise however, and will ensure we are linking together, seeing opportunities and squeezing the most out of our limited resources.

So, it’s about getting the detail right, keeping an eye on the bigger picture and making sure everything is joined up. Nobody said it was going to be easy!