Rebuilding neighbouring monuments

Following careful dismantle of these neighbouring monuments, we excavated the ground beneath. A common cause of monument collapse is vault collapse, upon inspection we found no vault. Collapse was attributed to root decay following removal of a large tree adjacent to the plot.

The area is known for substantial heave throughout the year, we opted to pour a concrete pad on geotextile membrane – encased in this pad was heavy duty A393 mesh to cope with the loads of the rebuilt monuments above.

Due to sloping ground conditions, the monuments ledger and kerb set were built on courses of brick. This was to keep the poured foundation well below ground level. We allowed for cross ventilation in these brick plinths with the addition of air bricks, this was an attempt to avoid condensation saturating the marble ledger, leading to accelerated decay.

We had a simple horseshoe scaffold with loading deck erected before commencing work. This allowed us to store stones adjacent to the work area. This scaffold was rated to support the use of a 1tonne Niko rail, we used this position the stones in place.