A terracotta showpiece under a century of soiling
Old College House carries some of Brighton's finest Victorian moulded terracotta — window surrounds, string courses, cornices, and a decorative pediment bearing an armorial crest with dolphin supporters and the motto In Deo Fidemus — set against a red brick facade.
By 2026 the weathering surfaces were green with established moss and lichen, atmospheric soiling had flattened the carved detail into shadow, and salt efflorescence was blooming through the brick panels. The building needed cleaning that would remove all of this without touching the terracotta's fireskin — the thin fired surface that protects every unit beneath.
The pediment, returned to legibility
BeforeBiological growth colonising the ledges; crest and motto muted under uniform grime.
AfterClean buff terracotta, carved detail fully legible — no abrasion, no surface loss.
Trials first, then the gentlest method that works
- Photographic condition record of every elevation in scope before any works — pre-existing cracking and defects logged and shared with the principal contractor.
- Trial panels on a plain face and a carved shell motif — including ammonium carbonate poultice trials to inform the boundary-wall phase that follows — reviewed with the principal contractor before any full-scale work.
- Dry brushing of salt efflorescence from the brick before any wet treatment, so dissolved salts aren't driven back into the substrate.
- Superheated steam (Thermatech) across the facade — terracotta dressings, pediment and brickwork — killing and lifting biological growth at low pressure. Nothing but water: no chemicals, no abrasives.
- Matched completion photography — every before viewpoint re-shot after cleaning for the client record.
Conserved, not just cleaned
Everything shown here was achieved with superheated water alone. No abrasives touched the fireskin; no acids or chemicals went near the terracotta. The building's 130-year-old surfaces came through the clean with their history — and their protection — intact. A following phase completes the boundary wall steam clean and applies a fully reversible ammonium carbonate poultice to the carved shell motifs — targeting sulphation within the detail — specified from trial panels carried out during this visit.
Works specified from site analysis — with full documentation: method statement, risk assessments, COSHH assessments, condition record and matched photographic record.