Fifteen miles, still on our patch
Newark-on-Trent is about 15 miles north-east of our base in Mapperley, one of the furthest towns we cover but comfortably inside our 30-mile radius. With a bit more distance involved, it is all the more useful to plan before the visit. Photos of the room and the wall, its width, and a note of the TV and fire you have in mind help the design along before we arrive. We work seven days a week, so a weekend visit is possible if that suits you better.
Fernwood, Middlebeck and Balderton
Newark has grown with several newer developments. Fernwood is a new housing estate, the Middlebeck development sits on the town's southern edge, where a new school opened in 2021, and houses have been built on the former Balderton Hospital site. In a newly built lounge the wall is often a blank, flat surface, which suits a full-width media wall: a central recess for the TV with an inset electric fire below, tall niches on each side and LED channels to light them. A new-build lounge can also take a raised centre section with a single recess, which can look neater in a smaller room. Because the frame is built in front of the existing wall, the cables never need chasing into a new house's walls.
Victorian and Edwardian Newark
Older Newark is very different. Its conservation area, first designated in 1968, was the second ever designated in England, and a 2022 council review proposed adding the late-Victorian and Edwardian planned housing around the Magnus School on Hatton Gardens, Winchilsea Avenue and Milner Street, the 19th-century houses on Crown Street and the houses on Lime Grove. In homes of that age, the design often works around a chimney breast and its alcoves. Those controls are largely about the outside of buildings, but a listed building needs consent before internal alterations.
How it is built
The fire's installation instructions set the size of its opening and the clearances it needs, and the timber or metal frame is built to suit, along with the TV recess and niches. For a soundbar, a dedicated slot just below the TV keeps the front of the wall clear, and a recess beside the screen can hold a games console or streaming box. Cable routes are planned inside the frame and a qualified electrician makes every connection. The frame is boarded, beaded and skimmed, ready for paint. Call 07877 353120 or use the enquiry form, between 7am and 5pm.
