Customer Stories

Repairing a Car Crash Damaged Stone & Brickwork Colonnade

Impact damage from a car had severely damaged the ornate stone and brick colonnade of Chertsey’s Old Town Hall. Temporary supporting props had been put in place to stabilise the structure.

One of the ornate columns had been shunted 10cm from its original position putting the structural integrity of the masonry above in danger.

The Structural Problem

The Old Town Hall in Chertsey is a beautiful Italianate style building. It was built in 1851 and features a ground floor arcade.

When a car crashed into the ornate stone and brickwork column of this heritage property it shattered the stone base of one support column. Some of the brickwork above collapsed and the column was shunted 10cm from its base. The building was being supported by temporary props.

The Structural Repair Solution

The structural integrity of the stone and brick column needed to be restored. The ornate stone and brick arches above the column had been compromised and required strengthening. The column also required substantial realignment. All of this work needed to preserve the original appearance of the building and allowed wholesale demolition and rebuilding to be avoided.

Once additional support had been put in place, AWT designed realigning equipment was used to bring the column back to vertical alignment.

Precision drilling equipment was used to install resin bonded stainless steel pins within the arches. This reinstated structural integrity without any visible fixings. Areas of disturbed mortar were re-pointed with colour matched mortar.

Reinforcing was required to restore the tensile strength of the brickwork column. Grout welded bars were installed within the brickwork as well as a grip bar in the footings of the column. Selective re-building of the areas of smashed masonry with colour matched bricks and mortar completed the works and ensured the repaired column blends with the rest of the building.

The stonework base was reconstructed using some of the original stone plus repair mortar chosen to match the other columns in both colour and texture.

AWT provided an efficient and cost effective solution that avoided slow and costly demolition and rebuilding.

AWT can provide specialist stone and masonry repairs for heritage and public sector buildings in Surrey, Kent and London.

Action Wall Ties (AWT) are specialists in masonry reinforcement and repair, providing professional solutions to a wide variety of structural problems. Contact us on 01227 721 255, or email us.