1: Finding the rockwork

Large areas of the lake-side rockwork where completed overgrown, both with brambles, ivy, and in this case 4 inches of turf. We used a metal probe to prod through the turf to locate the rockwork below.

2: Typical damage to rockwork

After removing invasive vegetation such as brambles and ivy, more often than not the exposed rockwork was in very poor condition. In this case the render coat has been completely destroyed leaving the structural brick clinker core exposed

3: Before and after renovation

This area of rockwork had been badly effected by a large tree growing behind it. Root growth over the years had caused the vertical cracks and damage visible to the right of the top photo. The cracks were pinned together with stainless steel dowels and then grout rendered with a grout gun. The whole area was re-rendered and remodelled, as shown in the lower photo

4: Before & after renovation

The top photo shows the side flanking wall of the Punt Station before renovation. It was heavily covered in vegetation, which hid the full extent of the underlying damage. The bottom photo shows the extent of the renovation work. The vegetation was stripped off, and a herbicide applied to kill off any remainng roots etc. The exposed rockwork, much of it the clinker core, was wire brushed to remove all friable material, and then re-rendered with a sand/cement mix which matched the original. (The sand was local pit-sand, which was the same as that originally used by Pulham). The wet render coat was hand finished using a variety of techniques to emulate the Pulhamite style, and to match in with the 'form' of the adjacent rockwork

5: Renovated Punt Station

Following the removal of a dense curtain of vegetation (see photo 4) we carried out extensive structural repairs to the core brickwork followed by the re-rendering and re-modelling of the faux stonework and rockwork

6: Before & after renovation

This area of rockwork by the Victorian iron footbridge was found to be very badly damaged by root penetration, which had destroyed most of the render coat, leaving the structural brick clinker core exposed. The lower photo shows the results of the complete re-rendering and re-modelling. (Working out of a punt can be challenging too)