Stone Technical preserves Yorkshire Landmarks for future Generations
Two historically important buildings in Yorkshire are currently undergoing thousands of pounds worth of preservation work to protect them from future damage with the help of Darlington-based Stone Technical Services.
Stone is carrying out a variety of repair work at York Theatre Royal and at the St Mary and St Joseph RC Church in Pocklington in new contracts worth around £7000 to the company.
York Theatre Royal dates back to the 1700s and was built on the site of the medieval St Leonard’s Hospital in St Leonard’s place in the city centre. Due to the age of the building a range of preservation and repair work is being carried out including the installation of lightning protection to shield it from potential environmental damage and the refabrication of the theatre’s decorative cross.
As well as these repairs, Stone is also providing specialist scaffolding support to protect the delicate nature of the building. Stone is working alongside Malton-based contractors Scothern Construction on the project at the Theatre Royal.
Over in Pocklington, Stone is upgrading the lightning protection at the St Mary and St Joseph RC Church which is currently undergoing improvement work costing hundreds of thousands of pounds. The church was originally opened in 1863 and the St Mary and St Joseph Catholic Church Development Fund is working to raise money for the improvements.
Stone Technical Services is a specialist high-level maintenance company providing lightning conductor installation and steeplejack services as well as restoration and masonry refurbishment projects on churches, museums, clock towers, castles, spires and historic buildings all over the UK.
The company works all over the UK on a variety of high profile buildings such as St Paul’s Cathedral and Selfridges in London and for organisations such as English Heritage and the National Trust as well as for well known industrial clients such as INEOS Plant Utilities and Teesside Power Station.
Stone now employs 24 and plans to continually grow its workforce throughout 2009 as well as increase its £2 million turnover by 25%.
Managing director, Dave Stone said: “These new contracts in Yorkshire are helping us as a business to grow as we offer a very specific service. It’s vital that historically significant buildings like York Theatre Royal are restored and repaired to the highest specification so that they can be enjoyed for many years to come.
“These types of building need sympathetic restoration work which is carried out sensitively and with as little disruption as possible. Because of the nature of our business we are thankfully in high demand, despite the downturn, as buildings will continually suffer from environmental damage and wear and tear.”
