Let’s talk nuts and bolts, gas valves and water pumps, 15 million bricks and one artificial brain.
Discover the fascinating story of the blood, sweat and expertise that goes into caring for our 150-year old Palace.
Our charity’s mission is to “repair, restore and maintain the Park and Palace for the recreation and enjoyment of the public forever”. To achieve this takes thousands of inspections, repairs and improvements each year. Factor in that the Palace is Grade II listed, a massive seven acres in size and older than the invention of the lightbulb. Then add in our restoration projects – bringing more of the Palace back into use for you to enjoy – and efforts to becoming greener and more accessible.
It all adds up to one seismic operation.
A LIVING, BREATHING PALACE
Meet Iain McDonald, our Head of Properties and Facilities, who oversees all this work.
“It’s probably too simplistic to compare the Palace to a human-being” Iain explains “but it’s not a bad starting point.”
“We look after the fabric of the building, that’s like your skeleton. It’s the frame of the building, the bricks and mortar, hundreds of steps, windows and doors, and the vast, vast roof.
“Then our energy plants are like the organs, powering everything. The utilities – the electrics, the water pipes – are the veins, arteries and nerves connecting everything together. We’ve even got a digital brain, our Building Management System.
“It’s a complex set-up, with everything inter-connecting, and means there’s lots to manage every single day.”
24/7, 365
Our Fabric Maintenance Plan guides the team’s work. It details the things we have to do, and prioritise, to care for all the internal and external infrastructure.
It takes a small but mighty team of expert engineers, surveyors, brick masons, electricians and carpenters, to cover everything.
Take our brick work as just one example: every brick is inspected to gauge the impact time and weather might have had on it. This leads to the rather unusual sight of the inspection team tapping away at each brick at the Palace – up high and down low – to monitor the sound that is made for any imperfections. From there our brick masons Michael and Sali, will carry out improvement works. A major job, particularly as we have 15 million bricks!
“The detail we go into is incredible. It goes down to how firmly the screws need to be tightened. Some infrastructure is inspected three times a day”, Iain says.
It’s a 24/7, 365 day a year operation too. One that always has an eye on our previous 150 years – how things were built, how they have lasted, how they can be repaired or maintained as a result – as well as one eye on the next 150 years. To help with this, the Maintenance Plan is combined with our Conservation Management Plan, to identify how the improvements we make are sensitive to our heritage status and will last for generations to come. Iain explains; “When we repair or upgrade something, we don’t want quick fixes, we’re looking at improvements that’ll last decades.”
One of the biggest changes in recent times is to ensure the work we do to the Palace is making it more energy efficient and sustainable. We have a Vision to become a ‘Sustainable Home’ for all we do, and want to achieve Net Zero. “We’re making a lot of progress, but of course there’s much more to do too. Our ambition is huge though, so it’s an exciting time in the Palace’s history.”
MICRO-CLIMATES, INSIDE & OUT
One interesting factor for the team to work around is the weather. “It sounds funny, but every building has its own micro climate. For us we, being on top of the hill, we have the wind which can be harmful, but it’s helpful too as it helps to dry us out from the rain. Meanwhile the south side of the Palace gets very hot from the sun, while the north side suffers by comparison because it doesn’t get enough sun.”
Knowing how each area of the Palace will react to different weather conditions helps the team plan ahead. The importance of planning, and having a holistic approach – taking in weather and a host of other variables – is key to success Iain believes: “Given the scale we are dealing with, it’s easy for the building to push us off at tangents. A big part of my job is to recognise this, then manage the priorities and keep the team focused. A methodical, calm, smart way of working is the best way to get long term results that really improve the building.
There’s also the variety of spaces inside the building. Factors like heat, cold, humidity can have a huge impact on internal infrastructure and how we care for it. “On any given Saturday, we’ll be hosting an ice hockey game on our rink, a Theatre performance and have 10,000 people in our Great Hall for a live gig. Just imagine the variations of conditions we are accommodating. It all has to be factored in.”
That’s something we’ve barely mentioned: the hundreds of events and activities that are taking place inside the Palace throughout the year. “Working around our programme takes a huge amount of co-ordination. It goes without saying, but you can’t work on a particular room if there’s an event taking place in it. We have to time our operations not only according to its priority, but also the vast array of live events, learning and leisure activities, weather and more, that fill the Palace every day of the year.”
Cost is also a consideration. As a charity, the revenue we generate from our events and commercial activities goes back into caring for the Palace and Park. But to achieve all we need to, requires support too. We were able to restore our award-winning Theatre thanks to funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Haringey Council, while funding from Historic England has recently enabled us to begin restoration of our North East Office Building, for example.
Alexandra Palace was built as the ‘People’s Palace’, a principle we continue to take inspiration from. The people power it has taken to care for the Palace over the past 150 years, and ensure it is here for future generations, is a story all in itself too.
