The project to undertake repairs and maintenance to seven individual boundary walls in central Marlow commenced in March 2020 but were suspended after less than 2 weeks, following the COVID-19 outbreak and  government guidelines relating to social distancing within the public Park and local footpaths.

Works recommenced again in late June 2020 and were completed 12 weeks later.

The contract involved cutting back and removing climbing vegetation from the heads of the walls, carefully removing moss and lichen fully from the brickwork by means of light scrapping and brushing to enable the repairs. Repair works also included carefully taking down heavily weathered and damaged sections of walls.

Over 150m2 of walling, some over 220 years old, was raked out and repointed in mortars consisting Natural Hydraulic Lime (NHL 3.5), 1 part lime to 3 parts sharp sand. In addition, over 900 individual bricks were replaced with locally sourced second hand bricks to the Councils approval.

Morris and Blunt Ltd. undertook the works in a methodical and planned approach on a wall by wall basis, to minimise disturbance and disruption to the adjoining property and land owners, whilst ensuring that all access paths, roads and circulation routes were kept clear and unobstructed during the project. The most challenging aspect of the project were the works to four of the sections of walling which form a boundary with public roads and footpaths.

Prior to commencement, meetings were held with the County Highways Department and our appointed traffic management specialist in respect of assessing and obtaining licenses, access provisions, temporary road and footpath closures and traffic management to enable the works to be undertaken in a safe manner to protect both the workforce, road users and members of the public.