ORNATE stone structures overlooking The Rock could have come crashing down onto the street if property developer Stephen Kendal had not spotted the danger.

The hazard came to light when refurbishment work started on the building at the Derby Chambers.

Mr Kendal, whose company the Kendal group is based at the Derby Chambers, won a contract to refurbish the building. The aim was to bring it up to scratch and provide new office space.

But while looking at the roof from scaffolding Stephen noticed that three decorative stone pediments, each weighing two and a half tons, were perilously close to falling off.

"When I got onto the scaffolding I could see that they were coming away from the building," said Stephen. "You could see the cracks. If it had been left a lot longer one of them would have come crashing down.

It was agreed that urgent work was needed and an emergency road closure was granted by Bury Council's highways department. A crane lifted the stonework, piece by piece, onto the ground.

The stones, 22 from each pediment, will now be cleaned by a stonemason and returned to the roof where they will be fixed safely into position.

The project, running until August, will also involve rebuilding the upper wall at the rear of the building, which is also falling away, repointing walls, re-roofing and refurbishing old sash windows, itself a specialist project.

The interior, which contains an old fashioned dumb-waiter shaft, will then be renovated to provide new loft office space.