Project Details:

Upminster Windmill is a grade II* listed building built in 1803, the windmill is considered amongst the best remaining English smock mills. The London Borough of Havering (LBH) and the Friends of Upminster Windmill (FUW) are working in partnership to restore the Mill, build a new visitor centre, and to ensure the ongoing protection of the Mill.

The visitor centre was completed first and has been open to schools and the public while the complex restoration of the windmill has been in progress.

The structure of the Mill has deteriorated over time and a specialist millwright contractor was required to undertake the work, the millwright appointed is Dijkstra whose workshop is in Holland. The millwrights are repairing the floor boarding and will be installing the weatherboarding. Works to rebuild the cap of the Mill are being carried out in the Dutch workshop, when complete the cap will be dismantled for transportation, and once back in the UK the cap will be rebuilt on site.

The polythene wrapping and the scaffold protecting the windmill during the restoration period is expected to be removed in Spring 2019, following this the external first floor gallery will be built and installed. Works also include to restore some of the internal machinery so that flour can be ground.

The final task for the completion of the Mill is the build and installation of four new sails.

The Mill is expected to reopen to the public from April 2020.

Upminster Windmill Heritage Site has been Project Managed by Cragg Management having been initially project managed by LBH.