30/07/2024
Situated close to the Great West Road, the iconic Leaning Lady Sculpture was created by Dr. Karel Vogel as part of London's post WWII public art programme. Listed as Grade II and considered 'at risk' in 2016, a campaign to restore the sculpture has since taken place.
Earlier this year SSH Conservation were contracted to undertake the repairs. The sculpture is made from cast concrete with armatures. The main challenge of the project was stopping water ingress to the numerous ferrous armatures embedded within the substrate. These would be too destructive to remove. The surface had many micro cracks, making preventing water ingress challenging.
As part of the repair programme, the SSHC team used the silicate based fine filler and paint system (Keim Granital) to give protection. Much work went into producing samples of a range of colours and paint systems on purposely fabricated sample panels that matched the historic surface so as to make sure the right choice was made.
Our client was the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, with Heritage of London Trust providing funding. Other funding was also provided by St Peter's Residents Association, Hammersmith and Fulham Historic Buildings Group, plus other individual donations.
It was a wonderful occasion when the finished repair work was recently unveiled by the Duke of Gloucester who is a patron of Heritage of London Trust.
