A Clean Start for Lincoln’s Waterside – PTSG and Waterside Shopping

Lincoln’s Waterside shopping was opened to the public in 1992 and has become central to the city’s retail offering and its economy, with a wide range of shops and cafés/restaurants. It is located in the very heart of Lincoln, where the high street bridges the River Witham.

Due to the size of the shopping centre and the nature and situation of the structure amongst historic buildings and alongside a river, it was necessary to contract a team of experienced specialists to carry out repairs and redecoration to the centre’s façade.

‘It was necessary to contract a team of experienced specialists to carry out repairs and redecoration to the centre’s façade.’

High-Level Reparations

Engineers from PTSG Building Access Specialist Ltd. began working in summer 2018 on the east, south and north aspects of the shopping centre, at ground level right the way up to roof level. The façade render was discoloured on all aspects and at all levels and in some places was cracked or crumbling.

The southern aspect presented the greatest challenge, as access is severely restricted by the proximity of the River Witham, which runs alongside the centre around 12 feet away. PTSG’s engineers are highly skilled in a number of access techniques and where it wasn’t possible to use a MEWP (mobile elevating work platform), they were able to scale the sides of the centre using rope access/abseil methods to perform the repairs and redecoration.

The northern aspect of the centre, on Saltergate, is where retailers including Next, H&M and Warhammer are situated. The high-level team was able to use a MEWP to gain access to all parts of the building to perform façade repairs. This included the rooftop, which is prone to damage from the accumulation of rain water.

The project was completed in Spring 2019, with the façade render completely repaired and redecorated and the Waterside centre transformed.

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