Saving St Paul’s

With St Paul’s Cathedral hundreds of years old, any restoration work undertaken has to ensure the original legacy and ongoing heritage is maintaining. Step forward Stones, one of the UK’s leading high level maintenance and restoration companies, who were appointed by the Clerk of Works at St Paul’s to inspect the golden cross and dome, which is 365 ft off the ground and one of the largest in the world. In addition, Stone’s restoration team carried out the renewal of lightning protection conductors using specialist lead-burning tags to secure the new system.

Furthermore, Stone’s regenerative experts also helped the Clerk of Works to plan for any future repairs, and therefore keeping any potential disruption to a minimum, by preparing a full digital condition report. Stone’s are one of only a handful of companies approved to work on St Paul’s Cathedral as an officially-appointed contractor responsible for all structural and high level maintenance repairs and lightning conductor installation.

The cathedral is one of the most visited tourist attractions in the UK and was built by Sir Christopher Wren between 1675 and 1710 after its predecessor was destroyed in the Great Fire of London. The cathedral is famous for numerous state funerals including Winston Churchill and Lord Nelson and also hosted the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer in 1981.

Stone’s experts specialise in a wide array of high level maintenance, lightning conductor installation and steeplejack services as well as restoration and masonry refurbishment projects on churches, museums, clock towers, castles, spires and numerous other historic buildings.

Some of Stone’s most high profile projects to date include work for Selfridges and Westminster Abbey in London, the University of York, Ripon Cathedral, Lincoln Castle and for organisations such as English Heritage and the National Trust as well as for well known industrial clients such as INEOS Plant Utilities and Teesside Power Station.

Managing director, Dave Stone said: “St Paul’s is an iconic part of London’s skyline and is known to millions all over the world as a stunning example of English architecture. We work closely with the Clerk of Works at St Paul’s to ensure that any repairs are completed sympathetically and with little or no disruption so that its history and beauty can still be enjoyed. It’s also vital that we plan for the future and we have dedicated experts working to preserve important artefacts. It really is an honour to be one of so few companies accredited to work on this magnificent and beautiful structure.”