Crofton began work at the famous Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial site, near the town of Albert, which commemorates Canadian forces killed during World War I. It was here that the Newfoundland Regiment made their unsuccessful attack on 1st July 1916 during the Battle of the Somme.
More recently, a staff house located on the site, was experiencing problems with its Canadian West Red Cedar cladding. Mark Taylor of Crofton explains: "The local woodpeckers has caused considerable damage by boring holes in it!
This meant that the roof of the building was leaking badly needed to be re-clad, so we were brought in to develop a re-cladding proposal that would be resistant to the woodpeckers. We selected an appropriate cladding material, a composite imitation Shingle manufactured, rather fittingly, in Canada by Enviroshake and ensured that the building's structure could support the weight of the new cladding.”
Crofton also carried out work for the CWGC at the Brown's Road Military Cemetery near the village of Festubert in north east France, which was largely destroyed in the May 1915 Battle of Festubert.
Recent residential development on land surrounding the cemetery had altered the natural pattern of land drainage, which appeared to have caused flooding at the immaculately maintained site.
Crofton's job was to compile an expert witness report examining the land drainage in the area to asses what caused the flooding and provide a solution to put forward to the local mayor.
Taylor said: "This was a really interesting job. Part of our research of the drainage system involved looking at the old First World War military mapping, and we discovered that the original drainage system had been there in 1916. The mapping allowed us to develop an in-depth understanding of the site’s history and advise on the problem.
It became clear from our research that the development had filled in an historic drainage ditch that previously connected that cemetery back to the wider ditch network which drains the otherwise waterlogged ground.
We concluded that the best solution will be to simply dig another drain and have proposed installing a pipe in a gravel filled trench to drain the flooded area to an alternative main ditch nearby. Our report has now been accepted to the local mayor who has agree to fund the recommended remedial works dirctly. We hope to be commissioned to over see works on site."
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