Plans to solve water leak problems at Clifton Park museum
CLIFTON Park Museum could get an upgrade to its roof drainage system to prevent internal leaks - but the council needs Listed Building consent before the work can be done.
That means an application has had to go in to its own planning board, which will make an independent decision on whether the work can go ahead.
The proposal is to make changes intended to prevent pipework becoming overloaded, which includes installing new connections to external drains which carry surface water away.
Council documents state there have been “issues with leaks to the existing gutters internally”, with a proposal to reline existing lead gutters with sheet stainless steel.
The museum building is Grade II Listed and dates from 1783, built by Joshua Walker, of the Walker Iron and Steel company, later being given over to use as a museum.
However, heavy downpours have proved capable of overwhelming the drains, with surface water backing up and leaking into the building.
Those problems have become more common in the last decade, according to the planning application.
Documents submitted to planners state: “Previous diversion works have been undertaken to the external guttering/downpipes to divert surface water away from internal gulleys, reducing the loading on internal drainage.”
But it has been established that remaining lead gutters in the roof cannot cope - and it is believed that using stainless steel will remove the need for the stepped joints used for the lead gulleys, improving the flow and reducing the likelihood of leaks.
A decision on the application will be made later.