The Salvation Army Citadel, Gillygate

RVE was instructed by The Salvation Army City Citadel (York City Church) to carry out a structural survey on the condition of the laylights above the main hall of this Grade II listed building. Our works here involved monitoring laylight structures and advising on how they could be sympathetically repaired and secured. We surveyed them to see if the glass panels had cracked, if the timber had deteriorated, or additional movement had occurred. Concerns were raised regarding the suitability, age, and condition of the structural supports for the glass panels.
Due to the poor condition noted, clear signs of failed repair attempts, and obvious hazards to the users of the building, it was RVE’s recommendation that remedial measures were undertaken at the earliest opportunity.
Since the building is Grade II listed, any remedial measures would need to consider how best to preserve the historical character of the building. It was presumed that the laylights would be a key feature that the listed building authority would want to retain. We provided the client with four options on how to progress.
We prepared some initial sketches of various remedial options and suggested forwarding our report and sketches to the relevant listed building authority and ask for comments. We agreed that once a preference of repair option had been established, we would develop the repair detail to permit historical building contractors to carry out the works.