Restored: The Royal Commonwealth Society


This is the downstairs function room at the Royal Commonwealth Society in London. But it has not always been so clean and shiny. One afternoon at about 4pm, the sprinklers went off and soaked the wooden floor to such an extent that it bucked until it resembled a stormy sea.


The only problem: that night the cast, crew and celebrity guests of the Walt Disney film The Parent Trap were due to hold their Royal Film Performance party. The first recovery experts who were called in declared the room a disaster zone and said it would take weeks to put it all right. Luckily, the loss adjusters knew about Restorex.




We were immediately called in. After an initial inspection, we set to work. First, we drained the excess water from the basement using a vacuum pump. Then we lifted the buckled slats of flooring and installed expansion lengths of wood to take the stress. Finally, we bought three rolls of green carpet and laid down a new floor covering for the evening.



The UK Business Continuity Awards 1999


As we were laying down the carpet, the caterers were moving in to set the tables behind us. We finished the job just ten minutes before Mia Farrow, Natasha Richardson and Dennis Quaid arrived along with a host of celebrity guests.




Cleaning electronics with bicarb


Not only could the show go on but the insurers were saved a £200,000 claim by the organisers of the party. The UK Business Continuity Awards ceremony is sponsored by British Aerospace. We were honoured to win the Most Effective Disaster Recovery of the Year award for our work at the Royal Commonwealth Society. We were also runners up in the Business Continuity Strategy Award for our AdvantecX planning programme.
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