Wallace Print Opens Up Golden Gate Opportunity

Wallace Print Opens Up Golden Gate Opportunity

The Golden Gates outside Rochester Town Hall have stood as a landmark in the area for more than a century. Installed intermittently over the past 124 years, the Grade II listed structure requires careful maintenance to preserve both its historic significance and visual presence within the town centre.

As part of a restoration project commissioned by the local council, conservation specialists Hall Conservation were appointed to carry out the first major refurbishment of the gates since 1979. During the restoration work, the gates themselves needed to be temporarily removed from public view.

To maintain the visual presence of the landmark and provide information about the conservation project, Hall Conservation commissioned Wallace Print to produce a large-scale hoarding installation replicating the gates at life size.

The Rochester-based printer manufactured and installed the temporary structure, combining large-format printing with rigid panel production and onsite installation to recreate the appearance of the gates while restoration work was carried out.

Creating a Full-Scale Representation of the Gates

The project required the production of a substantial five-sided hoarding structure measuring approximately 10 metres high and 20 metres wide. The structure surrounded the restoration area while allowing visitors to continue accessing the Town Hall during the works.

Wallace Print produced the graphics using ACM hoarding panels to provide a rigid and durable surface suitable for long-term external display.

More than 200 individual panels were printed using the company’s SwissQprint Impala UV printer, a system designed for high-resolution large-format flatbed printing directly onto rigid materials.

Printing directly onto aluminium composite panels allowed the team to reproduce the appearance of the gates at life size while ensuring the structure could withstand outdoor conditions throughout the restoration programme.

Precision Cutting and Protective Finishing

Once printing was complete, the panels were cut using an Esko Kongsberg X44 router to ensure accurate panel dimensions and alignment across the five-sided structure.

The panels were then laminated using a 1.6 metre wide Seal laminator with Mactac Permaguard 7000 film. This graffiti-resistant overlaminate was selected to protect the printed graphics from potential damage in a busy public environment.

Applying a protective laminate is an important consideration for many external signage and hoarding graphics projects where installations remain in place for extended periods and may be exposed to weather, public contact or vandalism.

Installing a Complex Hoarding Structure

Following production, Wallace Print’s four-person installation team completed the installation of the hoarding over four days.

One of the main challenges involved the construction of the underlying wooden frame. The framework consisted primarily of vertical battens rather than the more common horizontal layout used in many hoarding systems.

The team also needed to accommodate the irregular shape of the Golden Gates themselves, which required careful positioning of the printed panels to maintain the visual proportions of the structure.

Working onsite allowed the installation team to adapt the panel layout where necessary and ensure the finished structure maintained the intended appearance of the original gates.

Access points also needed to be incorporated into the hoarding so visitors could continue entering and leaving the Town Hall without disrupting the visual continuity of the graphics.

Supporting a Heritage Conservation Project

Projects involving historic landmarks often require careful coordination between conservation specialists, local authorities and contractors.

For this project, the hoarding structure needed to both protect the restoration work and present the gates in a way that respected their historical significance.

By recreating the gates at full scale, the installation allowed visitors to continue experiencing the visual presence of the landmark while restoration work was carried out behind the scenes.

Large-scale printed hoardings are often used on heritage projects, construction sites and refurbishment programmes where temporary barriers need to provide both practical protection and visual communication.

Positive Feedback from the Conservation Team

Hall Conservation project manager Matthew Boultwood said Wallace Print’s experience with large-scale graphics made them well-suited to the project.

“We contacted several companies looking for what we needed. Wallace Print was the most enthusiastic and it soon became clear they had the relevant experience,” Boultwood said.

“They understood what we needed and were comfortable with the large scale of the project.”

The successful installation helped ensure the restoration project could proceed while maintaining a visually engaging presentation of the site for visitors and residents.

“Our clients are very happy with the results,” Boultwood added. “The Golden Gates restoration project is a hugely important piece of heritage conservation and we needed to get everything just right. Wallace Print has helped us do exactly that.”

Large Format Production for Public Projects

Projects such as the Golden Gates installation highlight the role of large format print and hoarding graphics in supporting public works, conservation programmes and construction activity.

Wallace Print continues to produce large-scale graphics for a wide range of environments, including heritage sites, construction developments, retail refurbishments and public infrastructure projects.

By combining rigid media printing, finishing and installation, the Rochester production facility is able to deliver complex graphics projects that require careful coordination between design, manufacturing and onsite installation.