Buxton Crescent

We undertook the challenge to record and remanufacture the late 19th-century ceiling panels at the Grade I listed Buxton Crescent, following the original design and materials as closely as possible.

  • Blue Room, Buxton Crescent Hotel

    Blue Room, Buxton Crescent Hotel

  • 3D scanning the ceiling

    3D scanning the ceiling

  • An original panel removed from the ceiling

    An original panel removed from the ceiling

  • Machining new tooling to manufacture missing tiles

    Machining new tooling to manufacture missing tiles

  • Fitting the new tiles

    Fitting the new tiles

  • Reinstated ceiling

    Reinstated ceiling

We were commissioned to reproduce a number of embossed ceiling panels in the Blue Room of this 18thcentury Grade I building as part of the major programme of restoration in The Crescent at this time. The panels were produced in the late 19th and early 20th century, initially by Brown of Edinburgh, and then after 1899 by Wall Paper Manufacturers Ltd.

With approximately half the original panels lost due to failure of the lath & plaster ceiling, the challenge was to find a way to record and replicate them. We achieved this by:

  • Using the ART EC EVA 3D scanner to create a full colour three-dimensional record of one tile
  • Exporting this to two different CAD packages, allowing a precise clean geometry suitable for export to a CNC flatbed router.
  • Using the router to cut a positive pattern into high density modelling board, faithfully reproducing the contours and dimensions of the original panel.
  • Casting a corresponding female mould using addition cure silicon rubber. 

This flexible mould was used as the master to create faithful copies of the replica panels using paper and glue. A total of a hundred tiles were handmade and fitted to the repaired ceiling. All were then painted using blue and white colours matched to the existing, by our team of appointed decorators.