Conservation & Heritage Issue 50 Winter 2025/Spring 2026 - Flipbook - Page 19
Bank of England
The barrier is now at the end of its usable life, with meaningful
deterioration occurring, allowing moisture to enter the brick
work and cause significant damage to the historic building.
Previous attempts to remove the coal tar had resulted in
damage to the underlying brickwork. Commissioned on
behalf of English Heritage, Thomann-Hanry® used the
façade gommage system to gently remove the coal tar without
causing harm to this historically important building.
The Grade I listed building, colloquially known as ‘The Old
Lady of Threadneedle Street’ is found in the heart of the
City of London. Thomann-Hanry® was instructed to clean
and make repairs to the 13,000m2 Portland stone façade.
Due to the central location of the building, works could
only be conducted at weekends. With security a top concern
(possibly due to the 400,000 bars of gold held within the
vault) scaffolding was not an option, allowing ThomannHanry® to showcase the convenience which conducting all
cleaning and repairs from MEWPs could deliver to the bank.
The 30-metre-high windmill was cleaned without the use of
scaffolding, removing all the failed coal tar paint in only 10
days.
The thorough, yet intricate clean along with hundreds
of stone repairs were completed in only 25 days, all while
protests, filming of the James Bond movie ‘Spectre’, and the
general hectic day-to-day rush of central London went on
around the Thomann-Hanry® team.
Fishmongers’ Hall
Home to The Fishmongers’ Company one of the twelve Great
Livery Companies of the City of London, Fishmongers’ Hall
is a Grade II listed building that stands next to London
Bridge in its unique river side location.
Sibsey Trader Windmill
The original building dates back some 700 years and was
destroyed by the Great Fire (1666), rebuilt twice, and then
devastated by bombs during the Second World War before
being restored to its former glory. Due to the location of
London Bridge and the River, scaffolding was not an option,
so Thomann-Hanry® was instructed to clean and repair
the Portland stone façade on both the road and river facing
elevations.
From a project which covered over 13,000m2 to one which
was only 510m2. The Grade I listed, Sibsey Trader Windmill,
is located five miles north of Boston in Linconshire. Built in
1877, it is one of the last six-sailed mills remaining in England
and needed restoration due to 1970s remediation work which
had seen a topical barrier of coal tar waterproofing applied to
the brickwork.
Above, cleaning the intricate stone works at Bank of England
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