When a storm caused extensive damage to the weathervane, including knocking off one of its legs, it was decided to take it down for complete restoration.

The weather vane was removed over one weekend using a giant mobile crane.

It was cleaned of old paint layers back to base metal, and the damaged legs were repaired by soldering, then strengthened using copper tubing. The grasshopper was then painted before being gilded using double thickness 23.5 carat gold leaf applied onto an oil size.

The restored grasshopper was then craned back onto the top of the Royal Exchange tower.