The Worshipful Company of Masons, the London livery company of stonemasons, has presented its highest Award, the Certificate of Excellence & Achievement, for the conservation, repair and cleaning of St Paul’s Cathedral.

This is the first time the Award has ever been presented.

It was handed over to the Surveyor of the Fabric of the Cathedral, Martin John Stancliffe, and Head Mason and General Foreman of the masons at the Cathedral’s Works Department, Alan Horsfield, in the Mansion House, the official residence of the Lord Mayor of London, by HRH The Duke of Gloucester during the Masons’ Company Craft Awards presentation lunch on Friday 16 September.

The Cathedral is pictured on the right following its clean. Underneath, Martin Stancliffe and Alan Horsfield are pictured receiving the Award from the Duke (third left). On the left of the picture is the Lord Mayor of London, Michael Bear, and on the right the Master of the Worshipful Company of Masons, Derek Sayer.

The Masons Company present their Craft Awards every four years in recognition of the stonework involved in creating and maintaining the built heritage of the capital.

The stonemasonry company involved in four of the seven honours presented this time were CWO – Cathedral Works Organisation (Chichester) Ltd.

They gained a Commendation in the category for Stone Cladding and were winners in the categories for Restoration & Repair, and both large scale and small scale Monuments & Carving.

The Stone Cladding project that gained a Commendation (there was no Winner) was the Richard Green Modern Gallery in New Bond Street, where the architects were Adam Architecture, the owner Richard Green Galleries and the main contractors Fredereck Sage.

The Restoration & Repair project was Buckingham Palace Quadrangle, East Elevation, where CWO were also the main contractors and the architects were Martin Ashley Architects.

The winning project for the large scale Monuments & Carving category was The Monument, the free standing column in the City of London that commemorates the Great Fire of 1666. There, Julian Harrap were the architects for the City of London.

The small scale Monuments & Carving winning project was the St Lawrence Jewry Drinking Fountain, another project by the City of London, where, once again, CWO were the main contractors as well as the specialist stone contractors. This time Freeland Rees Roberts were the architects.

The honours that did not involve CWO were: the Landscaping Award, which went to the work on Elizabeth Street, London SW1, by stone specialists GU Contracts / Mulleady Civil Engineering, where the architects were BDP, the main contractors Skanska and the project owners Grosvenor; and a Small Scale Monuments & Carving Commendation went to specialists Fairhaven & Woods for the Jacobean Fireplaces at Crosby Hall, SW3, the designer David Honour and project owner Christopher Moran.

This time there were no entries in the category for traditional building in load-bearing natural stone, not entirely surprisingly as it is unusual for load-bearing stone constructiuon to be used these days. More commonly, the less expensive and much quicker alternative of cladding a steel or concrete frame is employed.

The Masons Company also recognise the development of skills in stonemasonry so essential for the maintenance of the highest standards in stonemasonry and each year present the Duke of Gloucester Award for a mason who has shown the greatest improvement in their skills and the project Craftsman Award, recognising the skills of a qualified mason. These were also presented in the Mansion House on 16 September by His Royal Highness.

The improver this year was Damien Briggs, who works for Albion Stone, and the Project Craftsman was Tim Crawley, who was with Fairhaven & Woods and whose work includes: carvings for Henry V11 Chapel at Westminster Abbey; the Lion and Unicorn Sculptures on St George’s Church, Bloomsbury; the Pasticcio Monument at Sir John Soane Museum; the Atlas Fountain, Kenilworth Castle; Modern Martyrs sculptures at Westminster Abbey.

A Commendation went to Peter Ayling.