The work of CWO, the Chichester-based stone specialist arm of the Geoffrey Osborne construction group, was unveiled by the Duke of Edinburgh at the beginning of May when he officially opened the renovated limestone and granite memorial and south steps at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

CWO dismantled the stone steps and carried out most of the cleaning and repair work off-site. The eletroplated bronze sculptures - one of Albert and \'Four Ladies\' representing the four continents - were also taken away by CWO to be restored to their original deep bronze colour.

The memorial had to be partly reconstructed to make good some of the distortions in proportions that had occurred when it was relocated to its present position in 1893.

In the restored monument Albert sits on a new rusticated vermiculated Portland stone plinth that elevates him slightly above his previous position to allow emergency services access to the vaults below. CWO also produced some new Portland balustrades as necessary to match the originals.

The pedestal to the memorial is in red granite from Aberdeen and grey granite from Cornwall.

The Duke\'s official opening, which took place in a thunder storm, celebrated the completion of the first stage of the Hall\'s renovation and marked the opening of its 130th summer season.

The whole renovation programme, which involves improvements for the public and performers, will cost £50million, but does not involve much stonework. The Albert Hall may appear to contain a lot of carved stonework but in fact it is terracotta.

The south steps and memorial at the Royal Albert Hall renovated by CWO. Inset are HRH the Duke of Edinburgh holding an umbrella for Sir Denis Rooke, chairman of the Board of Management of the 1851 Royal Commission, which owns the land and the statue, at the opening ceremony.