Restoring the Elizabeth Tower

The team tackling the restoration of the Tower was determined to fix this – and to return the dials to their former glory. Parliament’s Architecture and Heritage team worked with paint experts at Lincoln University to analyse over 160 years’ worth of paint applied to the clock tower. Together, they identified six different colour schemes that had been used over the years, comparing these to the original drawings for the building in order to unearth what the clock dials looked like a century and a half ago.

With the original colour scheme identified, a team of specialist stained glass experts from South London worked to find a perfect match for the Prussian blue and gold on the dials and clock hands. All 1,296 pieces of glass in the clock dials were then replaced by hand – with each person working on the project given the opportunity to install one of the precious mouth-blown segments.

Our digital construction expertise proved invaluable when it came to managing such complexity. To help us coordinate the design of this feat of engineering, we created a detailed 3D model, in line with the public sector aspiration of achieving BIM level 2 on construction projects, to give everyone an understanding of how it would work and where each component would be installed.

This became particularly important at the level of the belfry, where the scaffold was to pass through the Tower’s cast iron frame once its roof tiles had been removed.

A team like no other

True team spirit was on display at the Elizabeth Tower. With everyone committed to making this scheme a project to remember, they worked tirelessly towards their common goal, anticipating each other’s needs and having each other’s backs. Over the course of the five years spent together on the site, they got to know each other so well that it made solving problems and planning complex tasks easy.

With three decades of traditional glasswork under his belt, he’s a sterling example of the kind of expertise it took to bring Elizabeth Tower back to life. Another such example is the Cumbria Clock Company, which has spent 33 years restoring some of the UK’s most iconic timepieces.

They maintain the country’s oldest clock, at Salisbury Cathedral; they’ve repaired and automatically wound the most important astronomical clock at Hampton Court Palace; they’ve completed major work on clocks at Leeds Town Hall, Manchester Town Hall and Manchester, Durham, Hereford and Worcester Cathedrals. Their knowledge and passion proved an inspiration to the whole team.

Witness dedication in action