Challenge

Opened in 1839, Highgate Cemetery is one of London's great Victorian cemeteries with historic, cultural and wildlife attractions. It is renowned for its monuments and buildings, flora and fauna and is the burial place for many prominent figures, including Karl Marx. It is a designated Grade I Park on the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England.

In the 1970s the cemetery went into decline, becoming overgrown, and suffered from vandalism to some of the monuments. It was rescued by a charity, The Friends of Highgate Cemetery Trust, that has carried out extensive restoration and conservation work.

Solution

As part of the ongoing restoration process, The Trust approached Addagrip regarding its resin bound Terrabase Rustic system for an area of pathway that needed a low maintenance, natural, rustic looking porous finish that would be sympathetic to the surroundings. Ian Dungavell (Friends of Highgate Cemetery Trust) explains:

"The reason I went for Addagrip was that we were looking for a path that looked as natural as gravel, but was as maintenance free as tarmac, and which would reduce run-off so we didn't have to install a drainage network as well."

Addagrip approved contractor True Grip Ltd, was invited to install an area of 90sqm of pathway using Addagrip's latest surfacing product, Terrabase Rustic in an Oak blend. The 6-10mm stone size gives a rustic natural-looking, low maintenance, hard wearing finish and is fully porous.

The surface was installed without the need for an invasive base build up and noisy machinery, which was important given the nature of the location.

Outcome

The Trust is very pleased with the result:

"The path looks so good that people don't notice it! Just the thing for our historic landscape" - Ian Dungavell (Friends of Highgate Cemetery Trust)