MASSIF restores flats in landmark brutalist estates — one at a time, to the letter of the listing.
We are a small practice: a conservation architect, a concrete specialist, and a joiner we won’t name because you’d try to hire him. We buy tired flats in great buildings, spend about a year on each, and sell them with the paperwork bound. Raw concrete is not a look we apply. It is a fabric we repair — and it rewards rigour with warmth.
The Weldon Estate, Finsbury — Halloran & Price, 1968–74, listed Grade II* in 2003 — is where we’re working now: an eight-storey terrace under barrel vaults, and a twenty-two-storey point block facing the square.
Six clauses. Every flat, no exceptions. Each plate below is cast into the hallway of the finished flat.
Original steel W20 sections are removed, re-galvanised, and re-glazed with 14 mm slim double units. Sightlines match the 1968 drawings to the millimetre.
PROFILE W20 · U-VALUE 1.9 → 1.2 W/m²K
Spalls are cut back, reinforcement treated, patches matched to the original aggregate. No coatings, ever — the fabric must breathe.
MATCHED GGBS MIX · 3 SAMPLE PANELS PER FLAT
Eight millimetres of granulated cork on birch ply, hand-waxed. Warm underfoot, and quiet overhead in a way a service charge can’t buy.
CORK 8 MM ON PLY 12 MM · IMPACT NOISE −21 dB
Mineral silicate paint on render and plaster; nothing on the concrete. Whites matched to the estate’s 1968 specification, mixed to order.
KEIM SOLDALIT · “GALLERY 9870” & “CASEIN 9243”
Full rewire, quiet heat-recovery ventilation, low-temperature radiators behind the original grilles. The fabric stays; the comfort is new.
MVHR 0.32 W/(l·s⁻¹) · FLOW NOISE 28 dB(A)
Every flat sells with its restoration record: surveys, consents, samples, paint codes, and the name of every trade. The next owner inherits the file, not the mystery.
BOUND A4 · 120–160 PP · COPY LODGED WITH THE FREEHOLDER
The hour the west elevation goes gold — when the sun drops to 14° and the shuttering pattern stands up in relief. Viewings are better then, so we publish the times.
Leasehold has a reputation. The cure is arithmetic — so here is ours, per flat, before you ask.
| № 71 · The Vaults | № 09 · The Corner | № 118 · Tower Studio | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tenure | Leasehold, 148 yrs | Leasehold, 121 yrs | Leasehold, 134 yrs |
| Service charge, 2026 | £3,410 / yr | £2,980 / yr | £2,650 / yr |
| Ground rent | Peppercorn | Peppercorn | Peppercorn |
| Heating | Estate district system, metered | Estate district system, metered | Estate district system, metered |
| EWS1 | A1 · March 2025 | A1 · March 2025 | A1 · March 2025 |
| EPC | C — as good as this fabric honestly gets | C | C |
| Council tax | Band F | Band E | Band C |
| Pets | By licence — the freeholder says yes to cats | By licence | By licence |
Known works. Weldon Point’s original lift is in consultation for replacement in 2027; № 118’s estimated share is £1,900 and we will state it in the contract. The Terrace roof vaults were re-membraned in 2024 under the estate’s cyclical plan — paid, documented, in the file.
Viewings are ninety minutes, unaccompanied if you like, and best at concrete hour. Bring your surveyor — we’ll bring the file.
Every finished flat includes its bound restoration record — and the orange chair. It comes with the flat; people ask.