Chris Topp & Co Ltd won the contract last November to build a new loggia designed by John Simpson & Partners as part of the refit of Kensington Palace in London for Historic Royal Palaces with a tight deadline of the 9th March 2012.
 
The loggia comprised of 8 tonnes of decorative cast iron with full size carvings of each element approved by the architect and Historic Royal Palaces prior to casting by Smith & Co of Northumberland. The onsite teams worked long hours to get the structure ready and plenty of coordination was needed between the various trades, especially with the painters to ensure we met the completion date. The project could not overrun as it was part of the £12million revamp of Kensington Palace and Gardens which was opened by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh on the 15th March.
 
Chris Topp is the only business which recycles old puddled wrought iron, and has recently bought a load of wrought anchor chain from the Straits of Gibraltar. The firm is always keen to hear of puddled wrought iron scrap, especially scrap charcoal iron, for sale anywhere.
 
[Editor's note - Salvage at Kensington Palace: In 2010, as part of the £12m refit, Kensington Palace or HRP arranged for some large mahogany and brass display cases which had housed Princess Diana's dress collection to be dismantled by a Salvo Code dealer which were rumoured to have been resold to the flagship store of a fashion retailer in Manchester.