Example - Artificial Stone Ltd

Wimpole Street

We were very pleased to produce replacement “cold cast” (as opposed to original kiln fired) units for this restoration in lush pink terracotta. With this project along with many others, it is the mould making that needs to be the most fastidious and precise part of the manufacturing process, as these units need to line up exactly to their original neighbours.

One seemingly impossible feat was the restoration and replacement of the bay window roof, resembling an upturned rowing boat and made up of many unique stones. They all had to be individually cast and hand finished in order to produce the various slopes and curves so that they fit together and interlocked.

The Lighthouse Building, Kings Cross

On one of London’s busiest traffic islands outside Kings Cross Station, stood a once beautiful building, known as the Lighthouse Building, sadly fallen into dereliction. For years it had been an eyesore left to ruin, providing a home for hundreds of pigeons and many unruly buddleia trees. In the summer of 2015 (as part of a wider redevelopment of the Kings Cross area) we were commissioned to assist with the restoration of this unusual building. Our work focused on the replacement of the many pretty window surrounds, pediments and dormers. Other components included the rooftop arched balustrading, bracketed cornice and corbels, right down to the 3 metre high pilasters separating the shop fronts. These pilaster units were painstakingly restored from the originals, recreating the intricate carvings. Each unit contains a lion’s face, a four leaved flower and a pulvinated corbel plinth set upon rolled moulded square shafts.

Asia House

In the heart of London’s financial district of steel and glass there is an occasional gem.

Just behind the “Walkie Talkie” and not as far as the Gherkin sits the now gleaming white Asia House.

The iron framed building, clad with white glazed terracotta, or faience, badly needed repairs to its rusting skeleton.

From the sky down we replaced course after course in white Portland precast units, to be painted in various subtle shades of Keim paint, to match.

The scope included flat ashlar panels along with moulded window heads, jambs and mullions. We also replaced string courses with “bead and reel” design and the first floor cornice, corbels and angled interlocking voussoir head units.

Fitzroy Place

On the site of the old Middlesex Hospital, a massive residential development has arisen. However, in keeping with conservation, the Radium wing facade on Nassau Street was retained. The structure comprised of red brick and orange terracotta units, many of which had suffered fractures and damage over the years and were in need of replacement. Our new “cold cast” (a term used as opposed to original kiln fired) terracotta units were dotted all over the length of the street and have, hopefully, blended in seamlessly the old and the new. Part of the building was also taken down and then extended upwards, allowing the installation of more cold cast units to carry on the patterns of the existing cornices and parapet copings.