Built Heritage Restoration in South Australia
Heritage Building Repairs and Brimblecombe Builders

6-8 Rundle Mall Adelaide facade reconstruction

Sustainable building preservation & conservation

Brimblecombe's team specialises in some of the older trades and work on restoration, refurbishing, and practice sustainable preservation of some of Adelaide's older historic buildings - those considered to be buildings of historic significance

Terowie Railway Station - substantial conservation of building covering numerous building elements

University of Adelaide Grandstand - salt damp damage repaired, rebuilding & refurbishment of seating

Leabrook Aged Care - Substantial heritage sympathetic demolition for building reuse

BWS Mile End - Reuse of heritage elements salvaged from demolished structure – ceilings / columns and leadlight

Hahndorf Academy - Heritage sympathetic additions

Government House - Multiple stages incorporating roof repairs and restoration, the lantern, facades, windows..

The Smyth Chapel - complete interior and exterior conservation

Fos Williams Grandstand - Alberton Oval, building structure stabilisation and preservation

Temple Christian College - repurposing a heritage building to be a technical studies centre

Toll House Gate - repairing and reconstructing the remaining gate

Old Adelaide Gaol - conserving the original masonry walls

Carclew - repairing & restoring the boundary walls

Torrens Parade Ground - infrastructure repairs

Brimblecombe uses contractors with wide experience in traditional techniques of repair, preservation and restoration of our early architecture.

The Smyth Chapel - meticulous work

An interesting article about the Smyth Chapel was aired in July 2019. It can be found here on You Tube.The segment starts at 15.44 and finishes at 18.24. Here is a summary of the salient points, paraphrased from the MBASA Building Ideas TV program shown on Channel 9 https://youtu.be/OZW3doEzgY0

In this segment, presented by Nicole Willis, at the Smyth Chapel, David Robertson – Head of Operations Infrastructure and Environment spoke about the restoration and the specialists who undertook the restoration for the State Government and the ACA.

David stated that the Chapel was of Gothic design of a style rare to be seen in SA and Australia and given its cultural and architectural significance we believed it an important part of the history of South Australia.

It was obvious that it involved very rare and specialist trades so it was essential to employ a Master Builder who understood the specific traditional techniques required.

(At this point, the camera cut away to the Brimblecombe Sign attached to a nearby railing)

David continued and named 3 specialist trades

A tradesman who could bend, shape and weld lead to spire.
A stonemasonry expert to do repointing in traditional methods
A cathedral mason, Christian Frenzel - (later interviewed in this segment), was employed to create cathedral crosses and restore the grotesques to original nature

In segueing between 2 segments, Nicole closed saying: “The work at that Chapel was absolutely meticulous!”

Florence St - home of Salvation Army Adelaide

What are the benefits of restoring old buildings as opposed to building new?

Repurposing an old building leaves the historical construction intact externally, while making use of the already sturdy construction. An example of this is the new Temple Christian School Technical Studies area which kept the shell of the historic brewery, while building a very modern Technical studies area - one of Brimblecombe's contributions to the preservation of Adelaide's early history. Another was the conservation of the molded ceiling in the building which now houses the Mile End BWS. The Unley Police Station and Courthouse have also been restored & preserved by Brimblecombe and repurposed by St John Ambulance

Buildings of historical importance such as the Terowie Railway Station - preserved as an icon of both early rail history in Australia and its strategic importance in WW2.

Conservation and preservation of early examples of Adelaide Buildings - such as 6-8a Rundle Mall - showcases both the talents of South Australia's early builders and the talent of the restoration team. the Adelaide University Grandstand benefited greatly from the Brimblecombe Builders' restoration works. More recently, the restoration of the remaining Toll Gate at Mount Osmond and the heritage building repairs and conservation of the Smyth Chapel at West Terrace Cemetery have further enhanced our legacy to future South Australians

Gracious homes built by Adelaide's pioneers still grace our streets and suburbs because of restoration and conservation programs, thus leaving future generations a legacy from the past eg Florence St- Salvation Army Headquarters.

Image: Salvation Army HQ.in Florence Ave

St John Ambulance HQ - former Unley Police Station

Restoration work on The Smyth Chapel, Government House and the Police Barracks at Thebarton are important examples. Each of these becomes a tourist attraction which not only benefits our state as a whole but adds further to the economy.

For an idea of the extent of restoration work carried out in Adelaide and South Australia by Brimblecombe Builders please scroll through the gallery below. Should you have need of such historic preservation, reconstruction or conservation work on public or residential properties, please contact Mike Rundell on

08 83636233

Below is a gallery illustrating many of the heritage projects completed by Brimblecombe Builders. By clicking on an image to see an enlarged version, it triggers a scrolling gallery. Mouse hovering over the right or left side of the image will activate the scrolling arrows.