Movers and shakers put heads above the parapet in £3m Abbey renovation

The Chapter House, one of London's oldest buildings and once a meeting place for the early House of Commons in medieval times, has undergone a major repair and conservation project led by English Heritage.

A team of 20 masons and carvers have been cleaning, repairing and conserving badly-weathered heads, gargoyles, stone floral friezes, flying buttresses and stained glass windows over the past 18 months.

The scaffolding has now come down to reveal the fully restored exterior of the building, including 32 new stone heads across eight pinnacles, replacing Victorian ones which had eroded.

The new heads are portraits of people involved in the restoration project, including masons, architects, members of Westminster Abbey's clergy and the project team from English Heritage.

They are joined by four striking new gargoyles which have been created under the conservation scheme.

The Chapter House was completed in about 1255 and the octagonal chamber was a venue for Henry III's Great Council and the Commons, predecessors of Parliament.