Conserving Stone Heritage: experimental research

In many areas in the North and West of the UK, sandstone walls are becoming green as a result of algal growth.

The 'greening of masonry' project, funded by EPSRC, aimed to understand why this is occurring, whether the algae have any harmful effects, and how such greening may be influenced by future climatic changes.

Our project involved a multidisciplinary team of scientists from Oxford, Wallingford and Belfast and used field surveys, test walls and laboratory experiments and molecular analyses to address the problem. These web pages provide a simple introduction to the project and to the wide range of techniques we used.

• What's growing on the walls? Molecular techniques
• Why do algae grow on walls? Test walls
• What do algae do on walls? Lab experiments

Prof. Heather A. Viles
Professor of Biogeomorphology and Heritage Conservation

School of Geography and the Environment
University of Oxford
South Parks Road
Oxford, OX1 3QY

Tel: +44 1865 285070

Email: heather.viles@ouce.ox.ac.uk