The Architectural Forum

CELEBRATING 30 YEARS OF ARCHITECTURAL SALVAGE The Architectural Forum Ltd by Jason and Nadine Davies, was established in 1988 and has since strived to offer the best architectural salvage at a very competitive price. We are proud to offer honest, friendly advice and assistance, whatever you may be looking for. WHY SALVAGE? At The Architectural Forum, we are very conscious of the importance of reclaiming and salvaging, and the positive impact on our global resources and environment. We believe it is imperative to reclaim, refurbish and reuse as much as possible, as this puts less pressure on resources and stops the items simply going to landfill. With our emphasis on refurbishing and restoring, we are proud to be preserving the valuable skills of yesteryear, and giving antique items a second life and a chance to be appreciated by future generations. HOW DOES IT WORK? On the surface, the process of salvaging parts from an old building can seem relatively straightforward, but it is often a very challenging and pressured task, full of complications! Once onsite, Jason and the team often have very little time to recognise and remove the key pieces that are of salvageable and saleable condition. Sometimes, as beautiful and historically interesting as they may be, pieces cannot be saved as they would take far too long to restore, or take too much room in storage. Once the salvage is removed, they are taken to one of our premises for restoration. Restoration and refurbishment of all iron items, including cast iron fireplace inserts, fixtures and fittings, and cast iron radiators, is done at our workshop in Hertfordshire. Reclaimed stonework is repaired by Architectural Forum's in-house mason. Wooden items are repaired and re-polished, and some may be repurposed or re-crafted into a new item. Old, redundant, Victorian window frames, for example, are up-cycled into charming, large mirrors by glazing them with new mirror glass. Architectural Forum also has a network of specialist craftspeople who can assist in the restoration of other items, for instance, replacing broken globe lanterns in early Victorian street lamps. TRUSTWORTHY PROVENANCE We have been involved in some pretty spectacular salvage jobs, including removals from the British Museum, Tate Britain, the Tower of London and several prestigious London houses. Jason, along with Ted, from our sister company V&V Reclamation, took part in the salvaging of architectural pieces from the Baltic Exchange which is now home to the Gherkin. This turned out to be the largest salvage of any building in Europe since the original London Bridge was sold to Arizona in 1967! Architectural Forum has been in the vanguard of developments concerning standards within the UK architectural salvage industry. We strongly believe in maintaining high standards in the purchasing of stock and we support the UK's only code for dealers of architectural salvage, the Salvo Code (Cert No 131), as well as Salvo Theft Alerts. You can recognise Salvo Code dealers by the Crane logo. AS FEATURED IN You may already be familiar with the Architectural Forum showroom, as it has had several TV and book appearances in the past few years. Our TV credits include Channel 4's Grand Designs and Kirstie's Handmade Homes, where Jason sold Kirstie some antique door knobs, and BBC2's The Reclaimers, where Nadine was seen selling Stella McCartney's spiral staircase. Architectural Forum has also been featured in several books on architectural salvage and reclamation such as: The Reclaimers - A Complete Guide to Salvage by Sally Bevan How to Make the Best Use of Salvage - A Practical Guide to Reclamation by Barty Phillips Architectural Salvageby Geoffrey David West Bargain Hunters' London: All the Best Place in London to Find Great Deals by Andrew Kershman