DH Painter & Decorator paints business premises in Wollaston, from industrial units on Hinwick Road to the shops on Newton Road and offices in the village. Dean covers Wollaston from Northampton, 9.6 miles to the west, and plans each job around how the site works.
A working village, not a commuter one
Wollaston still makes things. Dr Martens boots are made at the Airwair International factory on Cobbs Lane. The Northamptonshire Productive Society, a workers’ co-operative founded in 1881, still makes footwear in the village. Scott Bader, the polymers and resins company, is the largest employer, based at Wollaston Hall with its Innovation Centre. Add the Hinwick Road industrial estate, the businesses at Cringle Farm off Grendon Road and along Doddington Road west of the A509, and there is a good spread of working premises for a village of about 3,500 people.
The everyday premises matter too. The village has two doctors’ surgeries, a pharmacy, a small supermarket, a post office, a newsagent, takeaways, a restaurant, a pub, a village hall and a library. The Neighbourhood Plan notes that most local firms are small, averaging 6.27 employees. For a firm that size, a day of closure for decorating is a real cost.
Different premises, different priorities
| Type of premises | What usually matters most |
|---|---|
| Industrial units, Hinwick Road and Doddington Road | Hard-wearing wall coatings in staff areas, offices and welfare rooms. Work fitted around shifts and loading. |
| Newton Road shops, including the Co-op parade | Sectioned working so the shop can keep trading. Washable finishes on shop walls. Clean edges where customers look. |
| Surgeries and the pharmacy | Low-odour, wipeable paints. Rooms done in rotation so clinics keep running. |
| Listed buildings used for business | Breathable, sympathetic coatings. Consent checked before any change of colour or finish. |
Listed business premises
Several of Wollaston’s commercial buildings are listed. Wollaston Hall is Grade II, built in limestone ashlar and banded limestone with ironstone, and it has a cast-iron verandah and an 18th-century staircase and plaster ceilings inside. On the High Street, The Boot (mid-18th-century painted lias with thatch), the Excelsior Band Club and the former Lloyds Bank are all listed, as is the Scott Bader Social Club. Painting work on buildings like these comes with constraints a modern unit does not have. Limestone and lias walls need breathable coatings, already-painted stone may need its old film testing before overcoating, and no heat can be used near thatch. Altering the colour of a listed business premises should be cleared with the council’s conservation officer beforehand.
Traffic, parking and timing
Getting to a site and parking there can take as much planning as the painting. The parish has recorded concern over HGV traffic for Scott Bader on Cobbs Lane. Hookhams Path carries lorries to the Hinwick Road estate along with school traffic, plus Santa Pod Raceway visitors at weekends. Newton Road’s retail units are on a narrow road with known parking pressure, and the Neighbourhood Plan notes that some small businesses lack off-road parking altogether.
In practice, Dean agrees a parking spot and a working window before the start date. Loading is kept away from your delivery times, and on Newton Road we avoid busy shop hours and the school-run peaks. Work can be phased area by area so part of the premises always stays open. We are fully insured for commercial work.
Finishes that suit a working site
The paint system on an industrial or office job is picked for the use of each room rather than for looks alone. On the Hinwick Road units, corridors where trolleys and pallet trucks pass get a tougher, scrubbable coating at low level. Staff kitchens and washrooms get a moisture-resistant finish, and steel doors or frames get the right metal primer under the top coat. Dean will give you a written specification, room by room, so a facilities manager can reorder the same colours later.
For how we approach business premises more generally, see the commercial painting page. Shop frontages have their own shopfront painting page, and our Wollaston page covers homes in the village.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
