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Built in 1910-12 to the design of Briggs Wolstenholme and Thornely of Liverpool, this unusual building is suffering from defects common to the early twentieth century, in that water ingress and the coastal environment has caused structural steel and concrete reinforcement to corrode.
The historic interest in this building has unitl now been its construction in white faience blocks and load bearing brickwork. However, of greater interest to structural historians is the early reinforced concrete and the 100mm thick concrete shell roof. The concrete shell is in good condition, although the metal lathing used as a permanent shutter has corroded badly, in some places to a state of total disintegration. Of greatest concern are the steel beams running beneath each side of the dome, spanning between the corner towers. These are heavily corroded and the rust is jacking upwards, causing horizontal cracks in the brickwork.
 
Removal and replacements of these steel beams is impossible, because of their inaccessible location so their structural role is being taken by new reinforced concrete beams constructed above them within the parapet walls, with vertical tension rods through the brickwork down to the beams.
The concrete floors in the campanile are also being replaced. The upper two carry loads from the structure above, as it reduces in section in wedding cake fashion, so this new concrete is being laid on op of the existing floors, which are used as shutters, before the original ones are subsequently cut out.
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