Following the success of our 2005 conservation project repairing Nelson’s Column, DBR was commissioned by the Greater London Authority to carry out the monument’s Quinquennial Survey.

The inspection was carried out on May 17th of this year, from a fifty-seven metre high cherry picker positioned on a temporary ‘trakway’, which protected Trafalgar Square’s historic paving from the heavy machinery. To protect the public, the entire monument was enclosed with high fencing to prevent the curious from wandering below the picker’s boom.

The three major elements of the monument: the sandstone statue, the bronze acanthus, and the massive granite column, were all found to be in a satisfactory state. DBR’s stone indent repairs from 2005 were also found to be in excellent condition, and this is testimony to the hard wearing qualities of the original materials: Craigleith sandstone and Devonshire granite. The former is not easily obtained as the stone is no longer quarried, but DBR had the good fortune to salvage enough Craigleith sandstone from a demolished school in Edinburgh to complete these repairs.