Masters of their craft

Back in May 2019, Creations Furniture of Beverley where asked to provide a quote to restore, re-upholster and french polish the council chambers.

We were exceptionally pleased to be awarded the contract from the East Riding Council. This was based on our 40 years time served experience, all of our staff being ‘City and Guilds’ qualified and our accreditation’s within the Re-upholstery and French Polishing industry.

Commencing mid August 2019, Creations Furniture started stripping down the council chamber seats which where in much need of restoration. The hessian in the seats and backs had rotted away allowing all the coir fiber and hair to fall through, the outer seat leather was torn and damaged, along with marks and holes in the solid oak frame work. The full program of work lasted around 9 weeks.

The County Hall council chambers are within a Grade II listed building, which also includes the original furniture, which had to be restored, reupholstered, and French polished to the original condition and look to the listed specifications.

After nine weeks of hard work a new council chambers emerged. All the seating springs where retied, all the seat backs have new hessian, coir fiber and new weddings, along with being re-upholstered in new aniline leather. Finally all panels where refitted and then French polished to finish off.

The council chambers where built in approx 1894 and believed to have been last reupholstered approximately 50-60 years ago by Armstrong Furniture of Terry Street, Hull. We hope the recent work by Creations will serve the council chambers well for another 50-60 years.

Paul De Lancey, Assistant Principal Building Surveyor at East Riding of Yorkshire Council said

“Creations Furniture worked tirelessly and to a very high standard, within a demanding time-frame, to successfully deliver a high quality finish to work on one of the councils most prestigious buildings.

Creations is a small local company employing skilled craftsmen and seamstresses, who all performed excellently throughout the delivery of the contract. Staff were extremely knowledgeable, amenable and accommodating to the demands of working within the constraints of the site. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend their services again and look forward to working with them in the future.

For more history about Beverley County Hall, it’s well worth a visit to the Beverley Guildhall Museum, which is located in Register Square, Beverley.