Engineers from PAYE Stonework & Restoration used small, handheld digital cameras to record the crumbling detail of stonework on the clock tower of the old Public Records Office in Chancery lane, London.

The digital images were fed into a computer and used to generate detailed drawings from which the stone carvers could work to rescue and in some cases completely re-make the carved Portland limestone decorations embellishing the tower.

The ornate pinnacle topping the clock tower was dismantled and replaced with newly carved Portalnd stone. A Portland stone coat of arms and other emblems decorating the library were also repaired.

PAYE also carried out extensive repair, cleaning and repointing work on the rest of the building, which includes Cabey ashlar and Kentish ragstone.

The old Public Records Office, now called Rolls Estate after the Rolls Chapel demolished in 1895, was commissioned in 1838 when Parliament decided it needed somewhere to house records dating back to the Norman conquest. The mock-Tudor building was designed by Sir James Pennethorne.

The records have now been re-housxed at Kew, which was deemed to be an ideal time to give the old building in Chancery lane an extensive facelift.