Abutments to the Copper Domes and Brick Parapets
were the biggest challenge.
Illustration: RIBAJ
When Westminster Cathedral’s roof was first asphalted, back in 1903, it would have utilised naturally-occurring asphalt deposits dug up from an overseas lake.
These days, things are done a little differently. Instead, IKO’s Permaphalt – a polymer modified mastic asphalt – was specified for the extensive re-roofing of the Roman Catholic Cathedral by Cathedral Architect, Michael Drury from St Ann’s Gate Architects.
‘Asphalt had worked well for the Cathedral in the past and there was no reason why it shouldn’t again,’ he says, adding that the new roofing’s twenty-five-year guarantee clinched the decision for a like-for-like replacement.
Drury had identified the need to replace the roof surface as a priority, in his quinquennial inspection of the Cathedral, which was designed in the Early-Byzantine Style by J. F. Bentley. Although the roof had been repaired over the years, the report detected cracking in the surface and up-stands and the presence of moisture within.
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