The historic Grade B1 Listed Glasshouse on the grounds of Stormont Castle in Belfast was restored in the 2008-2009 in conjunction with the Dept of Finance & Personnel and lead contractor H&J Martin.

The Glasshouse is situated in the West Gardens of Stormont Estate and is a prominent lean-to structure adjacent to the row of Grade A Listed workers cottages.In the late 1990s a survey of the Glasshouse found parts of it were in danger of collapse.

The restoration project aimed to maintain its Victorian origins while bringing the facility up to date with state of the art equipment and furnishing needed to create a well-equipped meeting venue and function room.

Due to its experience and sympathetic approach to working on the restoration of old building Armatile were appointed to manufacture and installed a beautiful Victorian style tile floor.

One of the biggest challenges in this project was the position of access panels for services that ran directly up the centre of the floor and the heating channels on the sides.

In an inspired move Armatile’s team designed the entire floor around the shape and size of the access panels. Its skilled team manufactured the design in its factory in Armagh with the specific purpose of ‘hiding’ the panels in plain sight.

Using in-house waterjet and industrial tile cutting machinery our factory team cut the individual pieces needed to size, before our artisan mosaic team hand assembled them all on mesh-backed panels for ease of fitting on site.
The modular Victorian design now seamlessly integrates the steel frames and latches of the access panels and creates an attractive, bright space for meetings and presentations.