The restoration of the Winter Gardens was always intended to be more than just the sprucing up of one of Blackpool’s most iconic buildings.

The aim was far more ambitious. Bought by Blackpool Council in 2010, the renovation was designed to improve visitor numbers to the long neglected complex and give the local community back a building they could once again be proud of.

It’s a testament to Maysand’s growing reputation that we were asked to work on one of the centerpieces of the entire £5 million Winter Gardens restoration project — the glass rotunda.

The Winter Gardens has a long history. Grade II listed, it opened in 1878 however, while it has always been an iconic name for the seaside resort, in recent years it has been a neglected one.

The rescue of the rotunda is one of the success stories of the operation. Blocked off and hidden from public view for the last 10 years, this has now been repaired, cleaned and opened up.Maysand’s Lee Wilkinson who worked on the project said: “The rotunda is one of the architectural highlights of the entire Winter Gardens complex. Unfortunately large areas of the building had been covered up, blocked off from the public and the rotunda was one of those.

“The architects wanted to reopen the space and open the interior up to the dome so that once again it would be the centerpiece. So it is in that context that we were asked to carry out masonry repairs. The roof of the dome was repaired and redecorated and, to make it stand out, accent lighting was installed on the ribs. We knew that it would be an area that would be a real focus of attention so it required a real eye for detail in the execution and finish.”

The Maysand team also worked on another Winter Gardens gem. Our specialists were called on to repair and clean the faience and terracotta on the inside of the building.The faience — an original feature of the Floral Hall — had been badly treated down the years, and many of the tiles had suffered from screw holes for signage, chips and cracks after years or wear and tear.

In all around 4,000 tiles were repaired by our specialist team. The walls were then cleaned using a sodium hydroxide solution. It was done using an airless spray to minimize the water content with sawdust used to soak up the spray.

“It’s a method that allows us to use a high pressure spray but without using gallons of water,” says Lee.

The faience was a very unusual plum and beige hue which sits perfectly with the Art Deco style of the interior.

Carl Carrington, Blackpool Council’s head of built heritage, said the scheme had been a real success. “It has brought the magic back. The sense of arrival is much better and the rotunda is just breath-taking. It has the wow factor and this is what has been missing for so long.”

The main contractors for the restoration were F Parkinson, who worked alongside conservation architects, Donald Insall Associates. The work was funded by the council, the North West Development Agency and European Regional Development Fund.