Victorian terraces are a defining feature in Ilkley, with stone steps and boundary walls forming an important part of their character. These steps, usually constructed in local gritstone/sandstone, are built to last but are not immune to structural failure.
At a property in Ilkley, one of the entrance steps had cracked clean through its centre. Closer inspection confirmed that the step was spanning a void beneath, a common feature of stone stair construction. Over time, repeated loading and moisture ingress had weakened the stone, leading to failure. Alongside this, the bedding mortar between adjacent stones had deteriorated, with open joints visible along the coping, and the steel handrail had worked loose and become distorted.
Northway Building Preservation was asked to carry out a sympathetic but robust repair that would restore the entrance both structurally and visually.
