Buckingham Court

Buckingham Court is a mixed use Victorian building which is part of the history-rich architectural landscape that surrounds Buckingham Palace and St James’s Park. The Victorian building sits inside the Birdcage Walk Conservation Area at the junction of Petty France and Buckingham Gate.

Cracked stone columns and brickwork

During a routine external repair and maintenance contract the main contractor discovered that the majority of the stone columns supporting the balconies were cracked and spalled and had reached the end of their lives, so endangering the public in the street below from the risk of falling masonry. Stress’ Heritage division was commissioned to survey the damage and propose a solution which would not affect the overall programme too much. In addition, cracking within the brickwork, stone features, and balcony slabs was discovered. Checking verticality showed that the self-supporting parapet was leaning and required anchoring back to the main building.

Repaired and strengthened to heritage specification

Stress UK designed and installed a temporary works solution to support the balconies at high level whilst the stone columns were replaced. This design allowed for the stone balustrades between the columns to be repaired at the same time. Cracked brickwork was repaired and strengthened with masonry reinforcement and repointed using colour matched heritage mortars.

Future-proofing a Victorian London façade

On completion the refreshed façade was now future-proofed with all major structural defects addressed. The medium-term external maintenance will now be limited to periodic redecoration of timber work.