Roofers in St Ives

Few places test a roof like St Ives. The old fishing quarter of Downalong is a maze of narrow lanes and granite cottages packed wall-to-wall, their slate roofs pitched steep and sitting right in the path of salt-laden gales off the Atlantic. Around Fore Street, the Wharf and the climb up towards Porthmeor, the housing is dense, old and almost entirely within a conservation area, so roofing work here has to be sympathetic to the town's protected character. Just along the bay, Carbis Bay carries the same exposed coastal stock, with sea-facing roofs that take a battering of their own.

That salt and wind is relentless: it works on pointing, nails, slate fixings and tired lead faster than anywhere inland. The tight access between cottages also means jobs need proper planning, you can't simply park a scaffold lorry on a St Ives back lane. These are the roofs Steve has built his career on. He works with traditional and reclaimed slate so a finished St Ives roof looks original, holds out the weather, and respects the conservation rules.