Sandstone and travertine care in Little Bay

Little Bay's modern form comes from its hospital history. The Coast Hospital began as a sanitation camp in the 1881 to 1882 smallpox outbreak, became Prince Henry Hospital in 1934, and moved its services to Prince of Wales Hospital in 2001, after which the site was opened to residential use. Nineteen heritage buildings remain, the Prince Henry site is on the State Heritage Register, and the Coast Cemetery and a rock pool built for the hospital's nurses are part of the story. Little Bay Beach is a sheltered, semi-circular cove and the last real sand beach before Botany Bay. Today about 55 per cent of homes are apartments. Stone appears as paving, balconies, terraces, pool surrounds and garden walls.

Little Bay faces the open Tasman, and the cliffs and headlands around the cove give little shelter from onshore wind. Salt spray reaches terraces, balconies and paving across the precinct, crystallising in the stone and leaving a dull, gritty surface, with pitting on travertine and fretting on sandstone edges. Newer apartment buildings often have large communal courtyards and pool areas whose paving takes sunscreen, spills and heavy summer use. Balcony stone collects salt and dust and drains through small outlets that can stain the facade below. Older heritage buildings have their own issues: weathered stone, old repairs and damp at ground level. The St Michael's golf course nearby adds wind-blown sand and grit (inferred from setting).

Little Bay is in Randwick City Council. Randwick names Prince Henry Hospital among its conservation areas, and the site is on the State Heritage Register, which means some work may need approval under the Heritage Act as well as consent under clause 5.10 of the local plan. Councils can confirm in writing when a minor maintenance task does not need consent, so ask Randwick, and check the site's heritage requirements, before restoration on or near the heritage buildings. Most residents live in strata schemes, often with community or precinct associations above them. Common-property paving, pool areas and garden walls are the owners corporation's to maintain, and a lot owner needs authorisation for work on them.

Little Bay is about 30 minutes from Double Bay by road, south of the coast we work most often, so we schedule visits in blocks and combine nearby jobs where we can. Most buildings have basement parking and loading areas, and we arrange access with the building or precinct manager in advance. Communal pool areas are booked for closure with strata, and the water is covered before work begins. Balconies are cleaned with each owner's access arranged and run-off contained, so nothing drips over the balustrade onto units below. Sealing is done only in calm weather, as onshore winds here are common. Recovered wash water is taken off site rather than sent to drains that run to the beach.