Commercial South East

Challenge

A major challenge on the project was designing and erecting a scaffolding structure that incorporated a working lift every two meters and cleared the top of the spire. A team of engineers was commissioned to design the structure and it then took approximately two months to put up. The main contractors for the project explain: “We then had to replace all the existing clay tiles, which were an alternating combination of club and fishtail feature tiles, with very similar products. This was also quite a challenge as the original tiles were so old.”

Solution

The contractor continues: “Dreadnought Tiles provided a very close colour match and were also able to hand-make the 1500 special angle hip tiles to exactly match the originals. Unfortunately when we were close to completing the project we realised that the spire was actually slightly higher than was originally thought and we were therefore 100 special angle tiles short. As they had been custom made by hand for this job we couldn’t just pick some more up from the local builder’s merchant! Fortunately Dreadnought pulled out all the stops to make us some more and ensure we could maintain our build schedule.”

Result

The versatility and distinctiveness of clay tiles means they restore character, charm and historical magic to refurbishment and heritage projects. The end result at St John the Evangelist Church is superb and the new spire roof has given the building a whole new lease of life as it towers 115ft above the ground and over its neighbouring streets of Victorian houses.