Type: Commercial
Duration: 3 Weeks, July - August 2026
Empire Roofing was appointed to carry out a full roof replacement on the stable range at Cornbury House, a private Cotswold estate near Charlbury. The main house is Grade I listed, and the stables sit within the wider estate, so the replacement covering needed to be visually faithful to the original Cotswold stone slate.
An inspection found large areas of the existing covering had perished beyond the point where patch repairs were viable. Rather than a piecemeal repair, the roof was stripped back and rebuilt in full, giving the building a completely renewed weatherproof envelope, with a modern vapour-permeable underlay behind a traditional stone slate finish.
Key Features
- 730 m² strip and re-roof completed in a fixed three-week window
- Cardinal reproduction Cotswold stone slate
- Proctor Roofshield air- and vapour-permeable underlay, no additional roof ventilation required
Scope of Works Carried Out
- Strip out: Complete removal of the existing roof covering, battens and underlay, with all waste sorted and removed from site.
- Membrane: Installation of Proctor Roofshield, an air and vapour-permeable pitched roof underlay. Unlike vapour-permeable-but-airtight membranes, Roofshield allows air movement through the roof as well as moisture vapour, so the roof space achieves comparable air changes to a traditionally ventilated roof without eaves or ridge vents.
- Batten Installation: New treated timber battens throughout, gauged to suit the slate sizes and set out to give consistent coursing.
- Slate Cutting & Laying: Installation of new Cardinal reproduction Cotswold stone slates, laid in diminishing courses
- Inspection & Adjustment: Our final checks ensured any gaps or loose tiles were addressed, guaranteeing a secure, seamless finish.
Materials Used
- Cardinal reproduction Cotswold stone slates: Cast stone slates manufactured in Ducklington, just outside Witney, designed to replicate traditional Cotswold slate. They're widely accepted in Oxfordshire conservation areas where genuine reclaimed stone isn't available in the quantity a full re-roof demands.
- Proctor Roofshield membrane: A three-layer air and vapour-permeable underlay, BBA certified for non-ventilated cold and warm roof applications, manufactured in Scotland by the A. Proctor Group.
- Treated timber battens throughout, gauged to the slate sizes
Challenges and How We Solved Them
A fixed three-week window. With Wilderness Festival taking over the estate grounds, the horses were relocated off-site for three weeks. There was no option to overrun, because the stables had to be habitable the day the horses came back.
Everything pre-planned before day one. Skips, scaffolding and materials were all sequenced and booked in advance rather than called off as the job progressed, so no part of the programme was ever waiting on a delivery or a collection. On a 730 m² strip and re-roof, a single day lost to logistics is a day that can't be recovered.
730 m² over a long, single-ridge range. The full run had to be scaffolded, stripped and re-covered in sequence, with the crew working to a set daily output to stay on track.
Material supply on a working estate. Cardinal's works at Ducklington are around 12 miles from Cornbury, which kept slate deliveries short and predictable against a tight programme.
Planning a re-roof on a period or estate property in Oxfordshire? Get a free, no-obligation quote or call 01993 259226.
