To mark 75 years as a leading global archaeology institution, the University College London (UCL) Institute of Archaeology decided to instal a sarsen stone at Gordon Square, the headquarters of the Institute for the past 55 years. The stone was donated by a farmer near Avebury in Wiltshire, but there remained the small matter of transporting it to London and installing it.

ME Construction, a London-based specialist refurbishment contractor established in 2007, provided the solution. Dennis Barnard, the firm’s Operations Director, says: “That, of course, was easier said than done. We’re used to working on old buildings but this was the company’s first experience of working with pre-historic artefacts.” Nevertheless, ME Construction rose to the occasion and the Institute is delighted with the result.

Installing it involved preparing a foundation for it to rest on, setting the stone in place and then making good the ground works after the installation, all with the minimum of disruption.