Queens Gardens Project – Hull City Council

The Commercial Sector

Hull’s Queens Gardens Fountain – Concrete Repair & Surface Coatings

Project Overview – Queens Gardens Fountain

The Queens Gardens fountain is a listed monument in the heart of Hulls city centre. Restek delivered an in-house designed solution to remediate and rejuvenate the fountain back to its former glory. The first phase of the project involved high pressure surface cleaning of the structure using our Doffing & Quilling equipment. We removed the build-up of surface dirt, which in turn allowed us to identify areas requiring remediation. All loose materials and de-lamination were removed, providing us with a clean surface to begin the repairs on.

After identifying the problem areas, we carried out pull and hammer tests to understand the levels of deterioration in the structure prior to commencing the scope of works. Test results showed that the floor of the fountain had several hollow areas beneath the surface. Through early engagement with our client, it was agreed that the fountain floor would require areas of resin injection, to bond the surface and base together to prevent additional water ingress and spalling of the top surface layer.

Our in-house, dedicated concrete repair team started breaking out the areas of visible damage to ensure the remediation work has a solid foundation for each repair. Upon completion of the square edged repairs, we then applied a fairing coat to provide a smooth finish for the chosen coatings to be applied to.

We determined an estimation of the areas requiring resin injection on the fountain floor and injected the resin into these specific areas with a proprietary resin, to ensure the floor became monolithic again. During the fountain floor survey, we communicated to the client, that the floor of the fountain seemed like it originally had a pattern design on it. The client then looked back at the original drawings to find the original floor design and, understanding the flexibility of Restek’s team, requested that the design be recreated on the fountain floor.

Restek was able to provide a suitable design and liaised directly with the client for approval of the colour scheme they wanted to use on the project. This was achieved and agreed by looking at the range of coating test samples on site.

Once all the surface preparation and repairs were complete, our dedicated team started applying the epoxy, mineral and steel coatings to the appropriate surfaces through spray & roller application techniques. After the base coat had been sprayed onto the fountain floor, we then masked out the pattern design and applied the RAL coloured coatings, as agreed by the client.

Hull City Council were extremely pleased with all the work undertaken by Restek and complimented the team on the very high standard to which the work had been completed, as well as on schedule and fully meeting the client’s specifications.

The Queens Gardens fountain has been rejuvenated and is now an eye-catching centrepiece in the city of Hull.