Facade cleaning for Newbury’s brick town centre and business parks
Newbury isn’t a stone town. West Berkshire Council’s conservation area appraisal calls handmade orange-red brick “the most prominent material in the town”, with few stone buildings and an occasional wall of flint with red brick dressings. Out on the edge of town, on sites such as Hambridge Road and Greenham Business Park, you’ll find modern cladding, glazing and concrete instead.
A method that’s fine on a cladding panel can do real harm to soft old brick, so we look at the surface first, then choose how to clean it. Before the main job starts, we clean a small test area so you can see the result.
Facade cleaning: before and after
Choosing the right method for the surface
| Surface | How we usually clean it | Find out more |
|---|---|---|
| Handmade brick and flint | Low-pressure DOFF steam, which needs little water and no added chemicals | DOFF cleaning |
| Concrete, modern brick and paving | Commercial pressure washing, with chemicals chosen for the surface | Pressure washing |
| Cladding and glazed facades | Cleaned from MEWPs, cradles or scaffolding, using a method chosen for the material | Facade cleaning |
| Aluminium window frames | Dull, chalky or faded powder-coated frames restored | Window frame restoration |
| Tags and paint | Removed using a method matched to the surface | Graffiti removal |
What DOFF cleaning does on old brick
DOFF is a steam cleaning system that works at high temperature and low pressure. That makes it useful on older brickwork, where blasting with cold water at high pressure could damage the brick face and open up the mortar joints. It can lift algae, moss, grime and some types of paint without chemicals, and with very little water running down the building.
It doesn’t suit every job, and it isn’t always needed. Sometimes a lighter clean of a small area will be enough, and sometimes the staining is a problem with the building, such as a leaking gutter, rather than dirt on the surface. We’ll tell you what we find. Our guide to what DOFF cleaning is goes into more detail.
Listed buildings and ghost signs in the town centre
Newbury’s conservation area was first designated in March 1971, and it takes in the Grade I Cloth Hall and the Grade II* Corn Stores, which now form West Berkshire Museum. If your building is listed, speak to West Berkshire Council before work starts. As the Building Conservation Directory explains, cleaning a listed building may count as an alteration, and test panels are a normal part of the process.
The council’s appraisal also points out something that’s easy to miss: “ghost signs”, the old painted advertisements on brick walls around Cheap Street. The wrong clean could remove one for ever, so if your building has any old lettering, tell us at the survey and we’ll plan the work to protect it. The same goes for the white painted timber sash windows that are common in the town, which need protecting from water and steam.
Business parks and industrial estates
Hambridge Road and Hambridge Lane run east of the town centre, with a mix of industrial and trade units. Greenham Business Park lies to the south-east of the town. On these sites, cleaning is usually about keeping the buildings looking good and the walkways safe:
- Cladding: algae and traffic film dull the panels, especially on north-facing walls. We work from MEWPs, using a method that suits the coating.
- Signs and entrances: the part of the building your customers see first, often cleaned with the rest of the facade.
- Paving and forecourts: algae and moss can make these slippery, so regular cleaning helps.
- Gutters: blocked gutters often cause staining in the first place. We can clear them at the same visit.
We can work outside your opening hours, and we can do a one-off clean or set up regular visits.
How a building clean works
- Free site survey: we check the surface, the access and whether you need permissions.
- Test piece: we clean a small area, so you can see what’s achievable.
- RAMS and planning: you get a written quote, risk assessments and method statements, and we agree timings.
- The clean: carried out from MEWPs, cradles or scaffolding, as the building requires.
- Sign-off: we walk the site with you and hand over photos and records.
Accredited, insured and documented
Locus is SafeContractor-accredited, Constructionline Silver and a BICSc corporate member, and our operatives hold IPAF and CSCS cards. We’re registered with the Environment Agency as a waste carrier (CBDU320327).