The King's School, Chester 2011

When the King's School in Chester moved out of its original location at Chester Cathedral and into its new building on the Eaton Estate in 1960, the school's statue of Henry VIII was moved from the Cathedral into a new position above the main entrance of the new school buildings. The statue was flanked by decorative gilded and painted stone diocesan sheilds all of which are underneath a very large copper clock.

Recclesia was called in to carry out specialist cleaning to the statue of Henry using a studio version of the Torc cleaning system and the delicate pinning of statuary masonry. The decorative shields were repaired and the decoration reinstated by a specialist coloursman.

The well known clockface of the tower was also looking worse for ware and it too received attention from the coloursmen who regilded the hands and numbers and repainted the face.

A full Torc clean of the remaining masonry to the main entrance was also completed.

The Henry Hope Glasshouse, Worcester 2011

The Clark & Hope Glasshouse in Worcester is a Grade II Listed cast iron and glass structure which formed part of the Victorian nursery in Hallow. The project involved the restoration and conversion of the building into a conservatory for private clients. There were various problems with the cast iron including poor previous repair work, structural movement due to corrosion and ingress of weather. Most of the original mouth-blown glass had been lost to time, but a few panes remained.

Work began with the removal of the glass and the repair, partial rebuilding and re-pointing of the brickwork, which originally housed ten cast iron ventillators. Only one of these remained, but was in extremely poor condition. Following its careful removal, it was copied and ten new ventillators were cast.

The cast iron structure was stripped back using ground glass air abrasion, which removed the dozens of layers of old paint whilst leaving the ironwork unmarked beneath. Missing sections were cast and incorporated into the main structure, principally to roof members. The opening sections of the roof were overhauled and returned to good working order.

The walls were rendered using an hydraulic lime mortar mix, and new oak cills and skirtings were added, along with M&E installations. Following redecoration of the frame the entire building was reglazed using clear mouth-blown cylinder glass which looks simply stunning in any light.

Bucklersbury House, Westminster, London 2010
Museum of London & Stanhope PLC

Bucklersbury House on Cannon Street in Westminster was built on the site of the Temple of Mythras. The site was a Roman temple whose ruins were discovered during rebuilding work in 1954. It is perhaps the most famous of all twentieth-century Roman discoveries in the City of London.

To celebrate the history of the site, artist John Hutton was commissioned to create twenty four etched glass panels to sit above the main entrances on each side of what became the Legal and General building. In 2010, the site was earmarked for demolition and redevelopment and Recclesia was called in to remove the glass art from the building.

Following extensive investigation and planning work hand in hand with the Museum of London all twenty four panels were removed from the curtain walling of the building, which was undergoing demolition during the process. The panels, each being some two by one metres in size but only 5mm thick, were individually boxed to museum standard and transported to Recclesia's glass conservation studio where the panels underwent specialist cleaning before being repackaged and put into storage.

The panels will be incorporated into the new building, designed by Foster and Partners, which is currently under construction.

Coronation Park, Ormskirk 2010
West Lancashire Borough Council

Designed by well-known artist and sculptor Stephen Broadbent, this impressive masonry feature stands at the heart of Ormskirk town centre and at the entrance to the town's popular urban green space, Coronation Park.

The design consisted of a large curved wall, flanked by tall carved posts some four metres in height. Further posts stand independently, leading to a second wall with semi-circular base, carved lettering and commemorative bronze work. Tying the tallest posts together is a giant, curved and intricately designed ironwork feature. A high-specification hidden LED lighting system was brought in from the USA by Recclesia and was incorporated into the radius coping, providing a stunning effect after dark.

The stone selected is from the Woodkirk Stone Quarry in Leeds, with whom Recclesia worked closely to ensure that the designs on paper turned into a reality on site. The stonework was produced and fixed using traditional techniques and all of the detailing was hand carved. The masonry sections were of considerable size but the detailing was quite delicate, meaning that every stage of the build had to be carefully planned to ensure that the handling of such large stones was carried out in a controlled way.

The project has been very well received by the people of Ormskirk and will take pride of place in the town centre for generations to come.

Joseph Paxtons Fernery at Tatton Park, Cheshire, 2009
Architect: Purcell Miller Tritton
For: The National Trust & Cheshire West CC

In 1850 William Tatton Egerton employed Joseph Paxton, the creator of Crystal Palace, to design a Fernery and an Italian Garden for Tatton Park. The Fernery is now known for being part of one of the most important collections of glasshouses in the UK and is home to a vast variety of ferns and tropical plants.

With this in mind, Recclesia were asked to carry out extensive glazing restoration to the structure whilst the park remained open and the delicate flora remained in place. There were broken panes of glass all over the glasshouse meaning that we required access to all areas. We partnered up with Nationwide Access who surveyed the site and provided us with a variety of different machines to reach the difficult angles without danger of smashing further glass.

The restoration work was done using only mouth-blown cylinder glass to match the original glass and we used some 250 square feet in the process. The entire glasshouse was cleaned on completion.