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Spanish City Contract

Spanish City, North Tyneside

St Astier has won a contract to clean and repair the iconic white dome at North Tyneside’s famous Spanish City. Taking its name from the Toreadors, a popular music hall act who performed on the site at the turn of the century, the dome itself opened to the public in 1910 and was the centrepiece of Whitley Bay’s twentieth century seaside holiday attractions. With its Edwardian Baroque architecture and prominent location on the coast, the dome has made a lasting impression on tourists and local residents alike. Dire Straits frontman and songwriter Mark Knopfler even refers to the location in the band’s 1981 hit ‘Tunnel of Love’ which became the unofficial theme song for the funfair for some time to follow.

The Grade II Listed structure, which was constructed utilising ‘Ferro-crete’ – a very early stage reinforced concrete, has suffered at the hands of the North Sea wind and rain for almost a century. The concrete is now suffering from carbonation attack and some chlorination. Spalled and cracked concrete with blown render is apparent in various areas with some visible reinforcement steel corrosion most likely brought on by low cover to steel and the carbonation attack.

Works will therefore relate to the repair of the external fabric and the application of protective coatings to the concrete dome. The specification requires the dome and external walls to be grit blasted to remove all existing coatings, surveyed by hammer test and then repaired using specialist concrete repair systems.

The work is funded by North Tyneside Council. Conservation architects for the scheme are Spence & Dower. Aerial photography shown here was provided by Scenic Photos Elevated.

Posted on 2 April 2009 by Phil Brown and filed under and .

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