Barry Hunt, specialist consultant and this magazine\'s \'Ask the Expert\' columnist, and a colleague from Barry\'s company, IBIS, raised a few eyebrows in the City of London when they descended from ropes down the face of the Bank of England.

The stone experts were inspecting the Portland stonework of the building. They were using rope access so that roads and pavements did not have to be closed. It also gave them access to areas that would not have been accessible by cherry pickers.

Barry says it was the most energetic job he has performed in quite a while because for security reasons the ropes were not allowed to reach the ground and he had to keep climbing back up for the next drop.