Testimonials
"We found Mareva (formerly VA Conservation) through the ICON register. We invited them and 3 others to quote for the cleaning of the Foley Memorial. The quotes came in at similar prices but we were particularly impressed by the obvious enthusiasm of Veronika Vlkova for this project. We obtained references from previous projects that they had worked on. Veronika was also recommended by members of the DAC as particularly suited to this work. We visited Compton Verney to view the work that they had undertaken there and were impressed with what we saw.
Mareva Conservation started work exactly on schedule and kept to their schedule of work the whole way through, despite interruptions from our many visitors to the church. They performed tests on the memorial before decided the best solutions to use. They worked in a very clean and health & safety conscious way. They provided literature to explain to our visitors what they were doing and also kept us informed the whole way through. They finished the work exactly on schedule and provided a comprehensive report on what they had done. We are very pleased with the appearance of the memorial now.
It was a pleasure to have them in our church, we highly recommend them and would definitely use them again."
Angela Snow
Great Witley Church
"We contacted Mareva Conservation as we knew that they would have the knowledge we required and that the services that they would render would be done with their personal touch, friendly manner and focus on us as their customer."
Andrew Keogh
Aston University
‘’It was a pleasure working with Mareva Conservation.
Having worked with Veronika for years I had always been impressed by her professional attitude, thorough communication and attention to detail.
At Birmingham Cathedral some funds for repair to a memorial in the churchyard became available. We approached Veronika. She responded quickly to our brief and arranged to carry out a full site visit. She took complete account of our health and safety concerns about access to water and trailing wires and additionally took on board our desire to make the conservation works publicly engaging. The memorial is in a busy part of the churchyard and thousands of people pass it every day. She supplied a full, illustrated and detailed method statement and approach as well as a breakdown of costs & contingencies.
Veronika established great relations with all on-site staff from Dean to Vergers, aiding the logistics of the project enormously. All contracted staff working with Veronika equally professional and health and safety was highly regarded at all times with additional barriers brought into protect the memorial whilst work was in progress.
The stone repairs, cleaning and re-gilding were all done with great sensitivity and to a very high standard. Veronika communicated each aspect of the work in simple terms allowing us to create an interpretation panel and a blogpost of the work in progress for visitors. Veronika even spoke to a local TV station about the project on-site.
In summary Veronika’s friendly demeanour, professional skills and willingness to work collaboratively meant that the conservation of the memorial acted as a great way of communicating our heritage to the public. She also produced a final report of the works which is now included in our inventory files.
I would not hesitate to work with Mareva again.’’
Jane McArdle, Heritage Manager
Birmingham Cathedral