The open fire in this busy hotel reception and lounge restaurant area did not function well and often filled the room with smoke when in use. The hood in the fireplace is too high above the hearth to function and these operational problems are compounded by the poor chimney design.

This shot up inside the hood shows that the chimney design is very poor with bends, ledges and changes in size which all affect the operation of the open fire. A chimney fan had been installed by another company to help create more draw to try and solve the difficulties. Unfortunately a small chimney fire had occurred recently and on inspection we advised that the best solution for a feature fire was to make alterations to the chimney design and install a new multifuel stove.

The old metal twin wall insulated chimney comes through a flat felt roof and as can be seen extends just above the eaves of the adjacent building. It cannot be seen on the photograph but there is another wing running parellel to this one to the left side and the main hotel building stands several storeys above these. The flue terminates in the valley between the two wings and behind the taller main building which will have seriously affected the operation of the open fire.

The metal chimney outside has been removed to reveal a catalogue of problems that need to be addressed. There is the felt roof and its timber structure to consider in the design of the new chimney and lots of cavities which heat from the chimney will spread into. The new system chimney needs to pass straight through this sleeve and down vertically to the chimney closure plate above the new multifuel stove.

The hood has now been removed and we can see the construction of the bottom of the chimney. There are lintels all over the place and a lot of masonry to be altered here to give us the straight run up to the sleeve in the roof. The builders are going to have a busy night as we need this to be done by the morning as this area of the hotel is closed whilst these works are carried out. The new carpet is being laid in two days time so we need to be finished inside.

The chimney has been altered overnight by the highly efficient team of builders who are working in the hotel. As the photograph shows the brickwork above the fireplace all had to be removed for the internal chimney works to be completed and has been replaced in a matter of hours.

Looking down from the roof the new masonry chamber is ready for the installation of the new stainless steel system chimney. The builders found a large void and an old doorway behind the old fireplace walls which were constructed during conversion of the reception lounge area around forty years ago. We have already installed the new bespoke chimney closure plate at the bottom and started to set up the new chimney.

The new support plate and bespoke brackets are installed and the large bespoke box section bracket supporting the main chimney system has been fitted as well. The inside is complete except for commissioning and we have left the room right on schedule for the carpet fitters to go in. We will commission the fire later as we need to complete the outside works on schedule now too.

The new chimney system is finished and our scaffold tower has been dismantled. We used a self build tower on this project because of the limited access and the need to be able to alter the height easily. The bespoke support bracket will hold everything in place and follows the line of the chimney.

As seen from the main hotel building the chimney is unobtrusive and can be seen to terminate above the ridge of the adjacent two storey building out of the area most affected by turbulence and pressure which caused operational problems with the previous open fire.

The hotel is fully open again and the new efficient Franco-Belge Savoy 8kW multifuel stove is now alight and has been thoroughly tested and commissioned. Just a lesson for some of the staff to be done before we can leave them to it until service time next year.