UKIC METALS SECTION MEETING AND 2003 AGM
Architectural Metalwork
George Gilbert Scott � Inside and Out
The aim of the one day seminar which took place at The Jean Muir Room, Victoria and Albert Museum, London on April 2, was to examine the conservation treatment methods applied to two pieces of high Victorian architectural metalwork designed by George Gilbert Scott, The Hereford Screen and The Albert Memorial. The presentations focused on the necessary differences in treatment methods to architectural metalwork destined for a lifetime exposed to the elements and those protected in a museum environment. In some ways the day was also a celebration of the work of George Gilbert Scott, a master of Victorian High Gothic design.
Both projects were also essentially restoration projects as both aimed to turn the clock back 140 years to enable us to view these architectural flights of fancy as GGS envisaged them, and it must be said, at their best.
The day opened with a welcome and introduction from Prof. Jonathon Ashley-Smith, Senior Research Fellow in Conservation Studies at the V&A, who explained in detail the timetable of events and the role of the V&A through the planning and up to the eventual starting of the project to restore the Hereford Screen from 1983, when the Museum acquired the screen, until its installation in the British Gallery. He praised the work of the conservation and curatorial staff in bringing this challenging project to fruition against a backdrop of shifting opinions, changes in management and corporate priorities.
The first speaker was Jamie Coath, partner in Purcell Miller Triton Architects and specialist in ecclesiastical architecture, who gave us the historical background and context of the screen using a power point presentation. He demonstrated through the use of original plans and drawings that even though there appeared to be good documentary archive material concerning the screen it was wise to be circumspect about the actual organisation of the screen's bewildering array of component parts until as much evidence concerning GGS intentions could be gathered together as possible, compared and analysed. The screen had lain in pieces in a leaking museum store since 1983, there was no documentary evidence, except for a system of tags, for how it had been dismantled two decades earlier, when it was removed from Hereford Cathedral by the same company who were expecting to install the screen in the Herbert Art Gallery in Coventry, an event that never happened. Purcell Miller Triton were asked to produce a conservation plan for the National Heritage Memorial Fund, to that end the V&A commissioned early on a photo-grametric series of photographs to enable computer generated images to be formed of the complete screen. From that a tender document was formulated giving a full schedule of works incorporating a cleaning specification which had been developed by Diana Heath's conservation team at the V&A.
The second speaker was Richard Rogers, Director of Plowden and Smith Ltd, the company responsible for carrying out the restoration. He described in detail how this major restoration programme originated and give a practical analysis of the problems encountered during the restoration and reconstruction. He explained that although the work was not technically difficult, the sheer volume of tasks to be completed in a short space of time on a limited budget was at first sight daunting. However, good background work by Purcell Miller Triton and the V&A, plus Plowden and Smith's own well thought out and specific record keeping regime allowed the project to be completed on time and on budget. All of the methods used in the reconstruction of damaged components were either conservation based or traditional repair methods. The V&A required that the reconstruction of the screen should be carried out at night with only the minimum disruption to the normal business of the museum. It also required the screen to be free standing and demountable, after having all of the structural components of the screen tested for strength or possible fault weaknesses, Plowden & Smith designed an internal stainless steel framework which bolted to the floor enabling the screen to stand alone.
Completing the morning session Jodie Glen-Martin, Senior Conservator at Plowden and Smith Ltd, gave an interesting talk concerning the paint analysis, the conservation of the original painted surfaces and how they achieved a reproduction of the original paint scheme. Again there was an extensive list of different colours and shades found after the paint analysis was complete, however it was Jodie's personal feeling that the original painters, like themselves, had found that after completion of the painting a significant percentage of the paint surface had to be repaired on site after installation due to inevitable damage during the difficult task of construction in very restricted circumstances. This would account for the variation in shades and paint layers found in the analysis.
The morning session closed with a debate on the choice of cleaning methods emanating from criticism from the floor, however the choice of method was robustly defended by those involved in the initial decision making process and by other delegates who cited cost considerations and restoration versus conservation principles.
All agreed that the degree of background work in order to produce a complete and thorough specification to tender document was impressive.
After lunch, Simon Cane, chairman of the metal section, conducted the AGM. He reviewed the results of the member's survey which the section had conducted and explained to delegates how the committee was responding to the findings. We also discussed the wider issue of the future of UKIC and the metal section in the context of the present commitment to work with other conservation bodies and organisations to develop a new single unified body for conservator-restorers in the UK and Ireland.
The afternoon continued with a presentation from Andy Mitchell, Sculptor and Conservator, concerning the treatment of the bronze and electroform sculptures, cross and orb on the Albert Memorial, London . He gave a brief history of the reasons behind the building of the monument which showed how GGS had been driven by concept and not by practical construction considerations. He described, with the aid of some stunning slides the replacement of the post-war cross and orb with new reproductions which more closely matched the archive records of the nineteenth century originals. He showed how all repairs to the numerous statues of angels and virtues were traditionally used methods and how he had, by necessity, to devise fixing and strengthening methods which improved on the original inadequate engineering. Central to the restoration of the bronzes was the requirement to thoroughly clean and paint inside and out all of the statues intended for gilding using a five layer protective spray paint system. All of the restoration techniques were required to meet a standard of protection which would last for sixty five years without recourse to maintenance. There was also a degree of preventative work carried out to avoid copper oxide streaking on both statues and stonework. I particularly enjoyed Andy's sculptor-based approach and his slides were definitely the most artistically shot.
Last but definitely not least Cedric Proffit of D.G.T. Steel and Cladding in Norwich gave a talk on the restoration and treatment of the internal structural ironwork on the Albert Memorial. He explained that the cast iron structure of the memorial was engineered specifically to support the lead decoration. His brief was to take the cast iron down were necessary and to repair or recast, clean, paint and reassemble all component parts. The cause of the severe degradation and alarmingly fragile state of the supporting ironwork was the difference in expansion and contraction rates between the lead and the cast iron, causing the lead to split and allow water penetration to compound the situation by causing extensive corrosion jacking of the ironwork. He described how he arrived at his chosen methods for cleaning, repair and paint system which would be cost effective, meet the sixty years with no maintenance criteria, but also retain a conservation ethic. He gave a complete description of all of the treatment methods used and also gave reasons why he had rejected some other possible methods or products. His talk was practical and informative and I am certain of great benefit to some of the younger, less experienced practitioners listening.
The day closed with a general discussion and positive exchange of information. Some of the issues which came out of the discussions were;
and lastly but most importantly
I hope everyone who attended found the day as enjoyable and interesting as I did.
Lesley Durbin