Reform Club
Styles Façade Solutions® (formerly Thomann-Hanry®) delivered historic building facade cleaning for The Reform Club, a Grade I listed landmark in St James’s, where maintaining an impeccable first impression was essential. Rather than shrouding the building in scaffolding for months, the team used the low-pressure, water- and solvent-free Façade Gommage system, gently lifting dirt with fine aluminium silicate powder before filtering it out on site.
Working from MEWPs, the team operated discreetly, minimising disturbance and preserving member privacy and security while the club remained fully open.
In just 15 days, decades of encrusted grime were removed, restoring the Portland stone façade from dark, weathered brown back to its warm, natural grey tones.
Solutions provided
THE REFORMATION OF THE REFORM CLUBS’ FAÇADE
Home to the private members’ club, The Reform Club since its foundation in 1836, 104 Pall Mall was designed by Sir Charles Barry and built by esteemed Victorian contractors Grissell & Peto. Constructed on land that had previously formed part of the gardens of Carlton House (the Prince Regent’s residence), the building was officially opened in 1841 after years of protracted negotiations over the ever-increasing costs of the project.
The Grade I listed building was designed in the palazzo style, which had been introduced to Barry during his work designing the Travellers Club next door. The striking façade was constructed in Portland stone, which is ubiquitous to the St James area of London.
The venue is famous for its literary links, including serving as the starting point for the global voyage around the world by Jules Verne’s Phileas Fogg in ‘Around the World in Eighty Days’ (published 1872).
Styles Façade Solutions® deploys a truck-mounted specialist Façade Gommage cleaning cabin to access the upper floors of The Reform Club during façade cleaning.
HERITAGE PRESERVATION WITH NO FOOTFALL DISRUPTIONS
Styles Façade Solutions® was instructed to provide historic building facade cleaning and restoration for the intricately carved façade of this landmark listed building. Given its prime St James's location, maintaining an outstanding first impression was vital to the club's operations.
More traditional methods of façade cleaning would have required shrouding the entire building in fixed scaffolding for months on end, at a significant additional cost. Through using the Façade Gommage cleaning process, The Reform Club completely avoided the need for scaffolding. As a low-pressure, water- and solvent-free system, it provided a gentle, heritage-appropriate clean perfectly suited to such an important Grade I listed building.
The system projects a fine powder of aluminium silicate at a pressure of below 4 bar to gently lift the surface dirt and grime from the façade; this powder is then sucked back into the cabin, where it is then trapped in a closed system curtain of water. The solid materials are then filtered out of the water and removed from site at the end of each working day.
WORK COMPLETED IN 15 DAYS WITH ENHANCED SITE SCURITY
Because the club remained fully open throughout the project, our team worked seamlessly to deliver the desired results without interfering with daily operations or member privacy. Using Mobile Elevating Work Platforms (MEWPs), all equipment was quickly moved off site at the end of each shift, not only minimising disturbance to the members but also helping to maintain high security around the premises.
Overcoming decades of stubborn, encrusted dirt and grime across all aspects of the building's façade, including in some of the most difficult to reach areas, our technicians quickly got to work on this historic building facade cleaning project, gently erasing these deposits and completing the transformation in just 15 days. The process safely restored the impressive Portland stone façade from a dark, weathered brown back to its warm, natural grey tones.
“It has been a privilege to help restore such an key architecturally and historically significant building back to its original grandeur. We hope the members of The Reform Club are as delighted with the results as we are. This project once again demonstrates the superior results the Façade Gommage cleaning system delivers for the prestige hospitality sector, all without the need to cloak the beauty of the building in scaffolding.”
Mark Styles, Managing Director, Styles Façade Solutions
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