An engineering firm that has carried out repairs to the White House and Windsor Castle is to help rectify earthquake damage to the . Jenny Jobbins reports from Wales A specialised team of Welsh engineers is preparing to travel to Cairo to help make vital repairs to Egypt's oldest pyramid. The at Saqqara -- built by the Third-Dynasty King Djoser (c. 2654-2635 BC) and designed by the learned scholar, doctor and architect Imhotep, who was deified 2,000 years after his death -- was damaged by the devastating earthquake that hit the Cairo area in 1992. The earthquake caused a section of the ceiling in the chamber to collapse, raising the possibility that the whole structure might eventually fall. For expert advice and help, the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) turned to Cintec International, an engineering company based in Newport, Wales. Cintec has offices in Newcastle Australia; Ottawa, Canada; and Washington DC in the United States, and is a past winner of the prestigious Queen's Award for Innovation. Specialising in bridge and building reinforcements, Cintec has developed an anchor system which is installed entirely within the fabric of the structure, leaving no visible change to the outward appearance, a feature particularly liked by heritage authorities. Famed for its innovative techniques, Cintec was called in to repair structural damage to Windsor Castle following a disastrous fire in 1992, and also for restoration work to Buckingham Palace. It also worked on the original Australian Parliament building, Blair House; part of the White House complex in Washington DC; the Canadian Parliament buildings and Rideau Hall, Ottawa, the Canadian Vice Regal Residence. This is not the first time that Cintec has been called in to carry out major repairs to structures and monuments in Egypt damaged by the 1992 earthquake. The company has repaired and reinforced a dozen of Cairo's mediaeval monuments, beginning with the Al-Ghuri Mosque in 1994. The Welsh experts have also worked on other Egyptian antiquities. Eighteen months ago Cintec completed a three-year project to restore and reinforce Hibis Temple in Kharga Oasis. They also carried out major restoration at the Red Pyramid in Dahshour, where they repaired a collapsed corridor between the two burial cambers. Peter James, Cintec's managing director, said: "We are extremely pleased to have been appointed for this project and are always looking for new methods to support and maintain historical landmarks across the globe. We recognise the importance of both historical and religious structures to their cultures and hope to continue to develop advanced reinforcement systems that will preserve archeological structures for future generations. "The project is of particular importance to us as the entire structure could be destroyed at any point due to the damage on the ceiling and roof caused by the earthquake. We aim to work as efficiently as possible on this project without comprising the design or strength of the structure." The damage- limitation project has a value of LE16 million (�1.8 million). Cintec will be sending three specialists to Saqqara to join Egyptian engineers and archaeologists. In December the SCA sent two engineers to Wales to test and evaluate Cintec's proposed reinforcement system and give the go- ahead for the project. Now James and his colleagues are waiting for their equipment to arrive in Egypt before they fly out. "We are delighted to be returning to Cairo," James told Al-Ahram Weekly. "We love being in Egypt. We love the people, we love the food and we love the atmosphere." James said he was very happy to be working on such an iconic structure. The specialists will be using traditional anchorage systems hand-in-hand with new technology. They will first hoist scaffolding into the innerchamber before tackling what James calls the main problem, which will be to support the ceiling of the underground chamber while they work on the section that has collapsed. To enable this highly dangerous operation, Cintec will use a technology that it first developed to absorb explosions while defusing road-side bombs in Afghanistan. These Waterwall airbags normally used by the military consists of self-inflating, water-filled bags reinforced with thousands of fibres. Eleven of these airbags are now on their way to Saqqara. Blown up, they will shore up the ceiling to protect those working inside the chamber. The airbags will be used in conjunction with stainless steel structural reinforcement anchors which are surrounded with a special fabric sock and inserted into the body of the structure to be secured. The anchor is then inflated using a special filling. "The chamber is only eight by eight metres, so with 11 blown-up airbags there won't be much room inside," James told the Weekly. "We will only be able to squeeze three people inside at a time." James describes his company workforce as "small, but highly specialised". He is enthusiastic about working with other specialists, and enjoys the interaction with archaeologists. "I love working with [SAC secretary-general] Zahi Hawass," he told the Weekly. "He is such a knowledgeable guy." James told the BBC that the strangest thing about dealing with such an ancient structure was having to learn an entirely new way of thinking. "Everything you've learned about building techniques and architectural principals goes out of the window," he said. "You have to think like an ancient Egyptian, and come up with solutions appropriate to the original design." "The most frightening aspect is that we're dealing with a structure of such historical significance."
