Railway Arch Restoration

Over the last few years, there has been an increased demand for restoration services in old, unused railway arches. Previously owned by Network Rail, The Arch Co are now leasing out the railway arches so that they can be used as shops, bars, restaurants and other exciting destinations.

Our dedicated, trained and qualified operations teams have been involved in a number of different exciting restoration projects over the years. This includes our involvement on the London Bridge Regeneration Project, where we restored over 40,000m² of neglected brickwork, on behalf of Costain and Network Rail. It pains us to see beautiful architecture being covered up by plastic cladding or other expensive alternatives. We have always believed that it is far better to regenerate, not to cover up years of history. This is where our professional teams come in, taking the substrates back to their original condition.

Our brick restoration process is as follows:

Step 1 – Refurbish and restore

In our experience, the first port of call is to get the brickwork restored back to its original state. Whilst other contractors can use extremely damaging blasting techniques, we’ve established a much more sympathetic abrasive method called the Microstrip System.

Using the perfect blend of pressure combined with sympathetic blasting media, the Microstrip System can beautifully restore the brickwork to its former glory, without damaging the brick face or sound pointing. The Microstrip System can be used in confined and busy working areas by utilising vacuum recovery or water shielding.

Vacuum recovery uses an enclosed head attachment which vacuums the expelled media and waste direct from the substrate whilst the system is in use; it then recycles and re-uses the media. Whereas the water shield creates a water spray around the nozzle as it is in use that dampens the surrounding air and effectively suppresses dust.

Step 2 – Eliminating water ingress

One of the most common issues with railway arches is leaky brickwork and water ingress. It can become an impossible task to maintain an arch with persistent water ingress issues.

Our partnership with the innovative UK manufacturer Epicuro, is the answer.

As an approved applicator for Epicuro, water ingress is controlled with the application of their unbeatable impregnation systems, such as Permbloc.

Step 3 – Seal the deal

With the brickwork restored and water ingress solved, the final part of the process is the application of an effective dust sealant. Again, supplied by industry experts Epicuro, the dust sealant is a completely colourless, silica-free coating that consolidates the surface completely, leaving the brickwork sealed yet breathable.

Step 4 – Handing back the keys

The final part of the restoration process is handing back the keys and watching the space being transformed into bars, restaurants or shops. It is great to see how different the arches look from when our teams arrived on site to when the ribbon is cut and the public are allowed in to enjoy the new space.

You can see some of our recent projects here:

London Bridge is now OPEN

Assisting the Battersea regeneration scheme by restoring their historic arches!