Portree War Memorial, Somerled Square | Restoration Case Study

Our role: Principal contractor
Client: The Highland Council
Architect: Rural Design
Value: Under £0.5m
Programme: June to August 2018
Scope: New Code 6 lead capping, hand raking out and lime repointing, DOFF cleaning, conservator repairs, re-lettering

Portree War Memorial stands in Somerled Square at the centre of Skye's main town, a sandstone monument with a central pillar and inscribed granite panels. For The Highland Council, to a specification by Rural Design, we capped the memorial in new lead, repointed it in lime, cleaned the stone and repainted the lettering.

The challenge

Water was the problem. The concrete capping over the monument had no reliable way of shedding rain, the mortar joints had decayed or been replaced with hard cement, and the sandstone was saturated and soiled. The memorial also sits in the middle of a busy public square, so the works had to be fenced, scaffolded and sheeted while the square stayed open, and the floor slabs around it recorded before anything was lifted.

Our solution

We first checked the pillar and stonework were sound, cleared the vegetation and cored an emergency outlet through the concrete cap. A new ventilated timber roof structure was formed over the cap on treated softwood framing and 18mm marine ply, isolated from the stone with dpc, and covered in Code 6 lead laid to falls with gutters to the four outlets, new spouts where the old pipework could not be reused, and the parapet capping laid to fall back and held with concealed lead clips. The joints were picked out by hand to a minimum of 20mm with fine chisels and hacksaw blades, the original mortar analysed in the laboratory, and the memorial repointed in a matching lime mortar finished flush or slightly recessed to the weathered arrises, with hemp caulking driven into the deep joints as a backing. The granite inscription panels were secured and repointed, our conservator repaired the stonework, and once the stone had dried out under its new cap it was DOFF steam cleaned from an approved sample panel. The lettering was then repainted to an approved sample in Keim mineral paint.

Outcomes

Capped in lead

A ventilated Code 6 lead roof now sheds water clear of the masonry instead of into it.

Lime, not cement

Decayed and cementitious pointing cut out by hand and replaced with an analysed lime mortar.

Legible again

The sandstone cleaned, the granite panels secured and the names repainted in mineral paint.

← All projects

Have a similar building?

Tell us about it and we’ll come back to you with how we’d approach it.

Discuss your project Call 01330 833 941

One of 1,000+ projects

More bridges & monuments

See all 234 named projects

Portree War Memorial