Lead It Be

03/08/2026

in june lead it be was contracted to form new glazing bar to his Majesty's theatre london in preparation of the phantom of the opera 40th anniversary. In our workshop, We formed approx 255 lm of glazing bars and 113 welded end caps. Prior to formation, we trimmed the lead straight using a plung saw and placed the lead into a custom-made jigg for the second cut. In doing so, each section was cut to an exact 160 mm . This meant over the entire span, all sections were symetrical with no deviations of deminsions or wavy lines to the finished edges.

30/07/2026

21/05/2026

This week in our workshop, we were requested to form a one-off 180 bend 60mm OD code 7 lead vent pipe requested by the architect. All hand made by our team. Certainly a unique little feature thats not often seen today

08/04/2026

The timber repairs of the Cupola Bell tower roof are now complete ready for the sandcast lead to go on. Today, we collected the bell from the soda blaster and will be taken to our local engineer to form a new bracket as the exiting is heavily corroded.

08/04/2026

Our central london works are moving along nicely on the code 7 gutters, dormer roof and bay window roof. All fully vented on grade A1 building paper

05/03/2026

Last week we took delivery of a cupola bell roof for restoration. After careful dismantling, the 17th-century bell was removed and prepared for conservation work. The bell will soon undergo paint removal through shot blasting, with the possibility of a final clean using laser technology to ensure the surface is preserved while removing remaining coatings.

During the initial inspection we discovered that the existing cast iron support brackets were heavily corroded and no longer structurally reliable. Working alongside a local engineering company, we will be fabricating new brackets to replicate the originals while providing long-term structural integrity.

The project also involves extensive timber repairs, including replacement of damaged sections and the installation of new boarding. Once the timber work is complete, the roof will be finished with sand-cast Code 6 lead,

26/02/2026

The sun was finally out as we wrapped up the final elements to this fully vented code 6 lead roof. The existing roof substrate had a back fall with several dipped sections throughout. Using a string line, we took incremental measurements and had to cut individual furring pieces at 450mm centres to form a flat substrate surface at 1:80 fall. Additionally, we removed the redundant chimneys and installed code 6 capping and cladding to suit