McEwan Décor Limited, of Edinburgh received the accolade of second runner up for their work at The European City Chambers, Edinburgh.
Located on Edinburgh's High Street, the City Chambers is a grand building built around three sides of a piazza, fronted by an arched colonnade. The building was designed by John Adam and built at a cost £31000 in 1753.
McEwan Décor Limited’s task was to redecorate The European Room. The room is five metres in height, and houses a series of priceless 19th Century Pre-Raphaelite figurative paintings by William Hole. All of these paintings were left in situ during the re-decoration, therefore to ensure the safety of the paintings, a great deal of care was taken when using scaffolding to access the ceiling.
The main part of the redecoration was the ornate ceiling, which has been carefully prepared, painted and highlighted substantially with gold leaf. Woodwork was also stripped and either stained or repainted.
The complexities involved in delivering a high quality finish, whilst protecting the paintings is something McEwan Décor Limited should be very proud of.