St Pancras on track with Heritage Mortars And Grouts
Limelite heritage mortars and grouts to help restore St Pancras station buildings to their Victorian splendour.
Mortars and grouts from Tarmac CMS Pozament, the leading manufacturer of blended cementitious products in the UK, have been extensively used in the historic conservation of St Pancras station.
The major redevelopment of St Pancras includes the enlargement and refurbishment of the ticket hall, restoration of St Pancras Chambers as well as new passages to the existing Tube ticket Hall and Channel Tunnel Rail Link. PAYE Stonework and Restoration, a leading conservation specialist turned to CMS Pozament for its expertise in pre-blended products formulated specifically for historic conservation work.
A hydraulic lime-based combination of materials that offers sympathetic controlled strength was blended by the CMS team to meet the specific requirements of PAYE Stonework and Restoration.
Around eight tonnes of lime based, cement-free materials including Heritage Mortar 4 and Heritage Grout 7 were supplied to point the brickwork joints of passages to the existing tube ticket hall and Channel Tunnel Rail Link and to repair sofits in the Grade I listed St Pancras Chambers.
Gary Hodges, project manager, PAYE Stonework and Restoration said, CMS Pozaments range of pre-blended heritage grouts and mortars were ideal for this restoration project. Heritage Mortar 4 was highly suitable for the St Pancras Chambers repairs, reaching maximum strength within 7 days rather than the usual 90 days for other materials.
John Boot, technical services coordinator, CMS Pozament said, The Limelite Heritage range has specifically been designed to be sympathetic with historic buildings and caters for a number of applications. Our re-pointing mortars and free-flowing grouts are manufactured at our Swadlincote facility in Derbyshire to order, typically within five working days.
Limelite Heritage products are mainly produced using hydraulic lime as the binder due to its many beneficial characteristics which are akin to pre-hydrated limes. Also being chemically reactive, it is not solely reliant on the process of carbonation to enable it to set and harden as with pre-hydrated lime products. This means that contractors and builders can use the product throughout the year into the winter months. This is of particular benefit to contractors as many historic buildings or structures open to the public are closed during the winter period for refurbishment to take place.
The extensive redevelopment of St Pancras and Kings Cross Underground was completed by the end of 2007.
January 2008
