Nelson Mandela Bay Executive Mayor Benson Fihla receives award for Pearson Conservatory at St Georges Park

The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Executive Mayor, Councillor Benson Fihla could not hold his excitement when he received a national Award of Merit from the South African Institute of Architects for the design and work done during refurbishment of Pearson Conservatory in St Georges Park on Wednesday (21 August 2013).

Presenting the Award on behalf of the Institute, Professor Albrect Herholdt from Matrix Urban Designers and Architects who were also commissioned by the municipality to do the job, praised the municipality for the bold decision it took to restore the building.

“We are honoured to have worked on this project with the municipality. This work and the accolades that it has received will add on the rich architectural legacy that Nelson Mandela Bay has,” said Professor Herholdt.

The Executive Mayor said the Award adds in many awards that the City has received for other municipal entities like, Red Location Museum and Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.

Red Location Museum prides itself for being an inaugural winner of the World Leadership Award in the Architecture and Civil Engineering in 2005. The Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium also won an international Award for overall stadium technical excellence.

“As the city and people, we are proud of these achievements. It is an indication that there is synergy in the work done by political leadership, officials and companies that we work with. On behalf of the people of the Nelson Mandela Bay we humbly accept the award. We are also aware that this award puts us on the spotlight to work harder in achieving more for the benefit of the people of this City,” said Executive Mayor Fihla.

In 2011 the building won an Award of Merit from the Eastern Cape Institute of Architects, The Eastern Cape crown qualified Pearson Conservatory to take part in the national Awards. In 2012 the building won the national Award of Merit from the South African Institute of Architects.

Pearson Conservatory arrived in South Africa as a ‘kit of parts’ and was constructed in St Georges Park, Port Elizabeth and opened on 12 September 1882. This glass framed Victorian Conservatory, imported from England, was the first of three such buildings in South Africa at the time. This 129 year old building cost £3,800 in 1882, a similar figure to the R5, 5 million reconstruction cost of the project today.

Having narrowly escaped demolition in the 70s, and having undergone various minor refurbishments to maintain the building, it was decided in 2009 to embark on a comprehensive reconstruction of the building to re-instate the conservatory to its former grand character.

The Architectural approach followed in the restoration was to create longevity and limited future maintenance. This guided decisions on material selection, installation method and overall specifications for the building. A large portion of the building and its components were in disrepair and required either complete replacement or extensive restoration work.

A three staged series of surveys of the building were conducted including an interrogation by the structural engineer with specific focus on the structural integrity of the load bearing components namely the plinth wall, cast iron columns, and astragals.

The cast iron structure survived intact and the rotted timber frame structure was replaced by a new galvanised steel structure. Hardwood Meranti handmade window panes and doors clip into this frame replacing previous Pine components, and moulded fibreglass mimics the elaborate profiles of the original timber mouldings.

The extent of the restoration task concluded with the removal and replacement or repair of:

·        blocked irrigation systems

·        rusted pipe work for drainage

·        broken shards of glass hanging on edge overhead

·        ‘make shift’ uneven flooring

·        the defunct misting system

·        structural cracks in the supporting plinth wall

·        no user friendly entrance for wheelchair disabled persons, etc

The functionality of the building was also questioned with the northwest elevation requiring continual painting to withstand the solar heat gain.

This resulted in the replacement of all glazing with 6.38mm safety glass and all curved Perspex used on the Central Atrium roof was replaced with 8.76mm safety glass to comply with current building regulations; all glazing was specified to meet requirements of the building and avoid painting on the North-West elevation.

Additional elements requiring refurbishing included: newly built planters which were highlighted with a minimised edge profile; re-built original planters were made good by removing extensive layers of paint, smoothed over and re-painted; the incorporation of a disabled access on a major axis of the building complying with current disabled access building regulations.

The colour specification directs the aesthetic of the building back to its original shades as found in archives.  This included blue tracery and detailing, shades of grey of plinth and planter walls, flesh coloured wrought iron columns with gilded column heads, white timber windows, and chocolate brown structural steel.