Newman’s surveyors have carried out 2 interesting structural repair surveys today in London.
The first survey today was to two houses built along the edge a canal in west London. The movement is established as historic settlement causing cracking to the brickwork and altering the load paths resulting I diagonal cracking above the lintels indicating brick arch lintel failure. In order to restore the failed lintel masonry beams well be installed along with 450mm pinning ties installed vertically through the lintel.
Brick arch lintel failure
The second survey in London was to identify the cause of cracking to this grade I listed tower in central London. The tower is built from 13 inch solid brick work and had substantial areas of cracking. The cause of cracking is a combination of ground settlement, lintel failure and brick damaged caused by freeze thaw cycle. In order to repair the masonry over 1500 metres of helical bar will need to be installed.
Newman’s are currently undertaking brick repairs to a grade II* listed building as part of a complete refurbishment of the external fabric of the building.
The building in Blandford town centre was constructed in the early 1800’s and originally used as a pub having changed ownership and use of the building had changed from pubs, restaurants to shops and now a cafe is being adapted into a national chain of opticians.
Brick Repairs
We were contracted by a brewery of whom we regularly carry out repairs, to act as a main contractor to design a scheme of aesthetical and structural repairs.
The lime mortar was suffering from failure with many areas of missing and loose pointing requiring reinstatement. Using specialist lime mortars sourced locally all areas are being repointed, cracked bricks are to be repaired and structural cracks reinforced with bed joint reinforcement.
We are a specialist in undertaking works involving listed buildings and are able to provide consultancy, design and installation.
Across England there are hundreds of bridges and viaducts constructed from brick and random stone usually built using brick arch spandrels, built well over 100 years ago, having not been designed to meet today’s standards with volume and weight of traffic that we have on the roads and railways today many are in need of reinforcement and repair in order to maintain their use.
Bridge Repairs
Many of these structures have fallen into a state of disrepair and must be reinforced in order to keep them open and serving their purpose. Traditional reinforcement is costly and can lead to major road and rail closures and diversions but Newman’s are able to use modern methods of repair to reinforce these structures.
Bridge Reinforcement
Utilising the Twistfix system we are able to reinforce delaminated spandrels enabling them to withstand the weights and speeds that road and rail vehicles impose in this modern world.
By installing helical bar to the underside of the spandrel and installing grout ties through the spandrel we are able to provide an engineered reinforcement solution that enables the route to stay open and improves the load capacity of these bridges and viaducts. Click here to view the Twistfix method video.
Much of the pointing has failed on the large structures and removal and replacement is a delicate process. Newman’s skilled technicians are able to reinstate mortar that’s loose or missing combined with our structural reinforcement scheme we are able to provide a last guaranteed solution.
