Albert Memorial London

The 135-year old Albert Memorial standing opposite The Albert Hall in London has been recently restored to itsformer glory by English Heritage. The memorial is constructed from elaborate cast iron sections, up to 75mmthick, clad in lead and decorated with bronze and mosaics. There is also wrought iron, early mild steel, copperand gold. The lead in places is 20mm thick.

In the original design there was no provision for the lead to expand, and being constrained it buckled in hotweather. Eventually, the buckled areas cracked and split and let water into the cast iron core leading tocorrosion over the years. Corrosion jacked up the lead even more which increased the cracking. Parts of thecast iron core were severely corroded and in some areas there were cracks. These might have been the resultof settlement over the years.

Due to these problems, English Heritage was given the task of restoring the edifice in the late eighties andgiving it a 60-year life. After many delays, the project was started in 1994 and completed in 1998. To provideprotection whilst the work was being carried out over 300 tonnes of steel scaffold tube and fittings were used forwhat became Europe’s largest ever free-standing scaffold building covered in steel and plastic sheeting. Thememorial was systematically dismantled and the degree of necessary repair to individual elements and sub-assemblies assessed. The aim was to retain as much of the original material as possible and this meant thatbadly damaged cast iron sections would be cut out, a replacement section made and fixed back on to theoriginal to restore the overall element.

A system for cold repairing cracks and broken castings is the Metalock process and Coventry firm MetalockEngineering was called in by the contractors DGT Steel & Cladding early in the restoration programme toassess whether the process could be successfully used to repair the damaged castings and provide the 60-yearlife required.

The answer was positive and by the time the programme was completed Metalock had carried out nearly100 metres of cold repairs and metal stitching of new and old castings. Additionally, there was aconsiderable amount of fusion welding work which the company also undertakes.

The Metalock process is accepted as the method of repairing cracked and broken castings across a widerange of industries in a multitude of applications. The process is carried out either in situ or in one ofMetalock’s workshops. It is an entirely heat-free process and the combination of keys and studs produces apressure-tight repair which is completed by a final peening and dressing. Components were transferred toMetalock’s workshop to facilitate efficient repairs.

Following casting repairs, all components were cleaned and red lead painted before the lead claddings wereput back with improved slip joints enabling expansion and contraction without causing splits.

Nearly 100 metres of “Metalocking”was used to repair broken and badlycracked core castings comprisingthe elements London’s AlbertMemorial. Pictures shows stitchingnew to old on one of the uppergables in Metalock’s workshop.