St Pancras Church, London W1

This magnificent Grade I listed church, historically referred to as St Pancras New Church  in order to distinguish it from St Pancras Old Church which stands some way to the north, is situated on the corner of Euston Road and Upper Woburn Place. The church is in a Greek revival style, using the Ionic order. It is built from brick, faced with Portland stone, except for the portico and the tower above the roof which are entirely of stone with all the external decoration, including the capitals of the columns, being of terracotta which, when built, meant it was the most expensive church to be built in London since the re-building of St Paul’s Cathedral.

PIERRA were appointed the Principal Contractor for this Heritage Lottery Funded project to carry out the works to the roof of the west portico and the parapet walls of the north and south vestibules. The existing roof covering of the west portico, consisting of lead and felt repairs, was replaced with new Code 7 milled lead along with associated timber repairs to the roof structure.

The vestibules, consisting of a brick core faced with Portland stone and terracotta was initally cleaned using the specialist ThermaTech super-heated water cleaning system to remove surface dirt and grime and assist in softening the heavy clinker build up on the terracotta detailing prior to applying a suitable poultice system. Any remants of clinker following the applications of poultice were then carefully removed by hand by PIERRA’s conservators.

The Portland stone and terracotta dressings were fracturing due to the rusting and expansion of the original ferrous metal cramps. The copings and terracotta dressings were recorded and carefully dismantled and re-fixed using austenitic stainless steel fixings with severely damaged units replaced or, where salvageable, repaired with a combination of mortar repairs and indents.

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