Restoration work at St Philip and St James Church, Whitton

When the fabric of the building at St Philip and St James Church, Whitton in Twickenham began to fail, Minerva Building Restoration Ltd were appointed to assess the general condition of this 1862 built church. The main brief was to accompany the client to determine the worst affected areas and ultimately produce detailed stone repair schedules and costs for consideration.

As with many churches, the issue of invalidating insurance policies with scaffolding in place meant that combination of scaffolding and cherry picker access was required to reach the works at high level.

Primarily the repair works consisted of the restoration of main failing bathstone raking and string courses using stainless steel reinforcing rods along with progressively weakening coats of lime based restoration mortars. The elevations of the church are constructed in a ragstone. The pointing to the elevations and gables had failed in many areas. These areas were pointed using lime based mortar mixes. The total value of the contract was £20,000.

For further information visit www.minervabuilding.co.uk