Cleaning the walls using special processes has removed the deep staining and brought the features of the five and six-storey Victorian building back to life. These include the phoenix over the central arch which symbolises the rebirth of the building after it burned down in 1885.
Rhys Davies, Senior Surveyor with Cooke & Arkwright’s Building Consultancy, who were instructed by the landlord to act as contract administrators for the maintenance work, comments, “Some stone cleaning methods can cause further deterioration to the stone. However, the cleaning to the market building façade was undertaken using a mixture of modern and traditional non-aggressive processes. Nebulous water sprays and a superheated steam cleaning system were used. Both work almost like a light sprinkler system, soaking through the stones outer skin and removing the deep staining. Some light brushing was undertaken to the deep stained areas and to the areas of stone carvings. The before and after photos clearly demonstrate what a difference these works have made and we are very pleased with the result.”
The principle contractor was Source Site Services and the stone masons were Architectural Stone.