As Surveyor of the Fabric to The Old Royal Naval College, Martin Ashley is assisting the Greenwich Foundation with the conservation and maintenance of the largest assembly of Baroque buildings in the UK. We are currently advising on the conservation of the most significant programme of Baroque paintings in Britain - Sir James Thornhill’s remarkable interior of the Painted Hall. Thornhill’s paintings were completed between 1708 and 1726, and are of exceptional quality and national historical importance. Since their last restoration in the 1950s, no in-depth investigation of their condition had been performed, and some areas were visibly decaying. With support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the first phase of a major conservation programme has recently been completed. A very substantial scaffold was constructed to facilitate conservation of the West Wall paintings in the Upper Painted Hall by Paine and Stewart. This included a staircase and a viewing area to allow the public to see the scheme and its conservation work up close, while a full height screen print of the West Wall painting - depicting George I and his family - was hung from the scaffolding to allow visitors to continue to enjoy and understand the Lower Painted Hall. The scaffolding was entirely free standing to avoid any conceivable damage to the Scheduled Ancient Monument and Grade I listed building. As well as achieving an in-depth assessment of the paintings and facilitating their conservation, the project also incorporates work towards asbestos removal, repairing rainwater pipes buried in the walls, improving heating and electrical infrastructures, environmental controls, solar shading and draft protection and upgrading the lighting towards greatly improved interpretation of the Painted Hall interiors. With a major appeal now underway, plans are currently developing for the remaining conservation phases.