Chichester masons CWO have started work on the 18-month, £4.5million restoration of one of the City of London\'s most familiar landmarks - the Monument, Sir Christopher Wren\'s column commemorating the Great Fire of 1666 with its gilded flame on top.

The Portland limestone monument is the tallest freestanding column in the world at 61.5m.

It gets a makeover about once every 100 years - making the current project slightly overdue as the last one was in 1888.

The contract for the work was awarded by the City of London Corporation to Cathedral Works Organisation (Chichester) Ltd, the company that successfully completed the relocation of Temple Bar back into the City for the Corporation in 2004.

The project includes cleaning and repairing the stonework and re-gilding the famous flame.

The consultant architects on the project are Julian Harrap Architects and the structural engineers involved are Hockley & Dawson.