All Saints Church Hove

USL was pleased to be appointed as Principal Contractor to carry out urgent restoration to the Towers at All Saints Church in Hove.

All Saints, Hove is a late Victorian church of medieval gothic design and near cathedral size built of Sussex sandstone and opened in 1892.  It is unique in its coherence of design, architecture, decoration and glass, in that all were designed by its architect John Pearson to a very high decorative standard.

It was not realised at the time of construction that Sussex sandstone weathers erratically, with about 10% of the stone, at random, weathering badly in the salt laden winds of Hove.

This has led over the years to significant issues of stone work falling from the building which - without a churchyard - poses a risk to passers by.  The East end of All Saints has two tall (over 80ft high)  decorative towers with much open decorative stonework which were assessed to be in danger of collapse, leading to All Saints being placed on the Heritage England ‘At Risk’ register.

Following a close up drone survey of the tower, USL was able to collaborate with Architects Carden & Godfrey to assess the damaged stonework and create a schedule for stone replacement.  New stone was quarried and cut by hand within USL's banker workshop in Essex.  Once shaped it was transported to Hove for careful installation.