(Above) The award-winning High Level Bridge
A painstaking £40 million scheme to restore a 160 year old, Grade 1 listed iron bridge described as a "vital" Tyneside transport route has been rewarded with a prestigious European award.
The seven-year Network Rail project on the High Level Bridge, between Newcastle and Gateshead, edged out developments of iconic buildings from across the continent to win the European heritage award for conservation at the European Union Cultural Heritage awards in Sicily.
Network Rail Chief Executive Iain Coucher said the award was "a fabulous recognition" of the "detailed and complex" renovation. "It's a unique structure and our engineers had to develop new techniques to protect the bridge whilst respecting its Grade I listing," he pointed out, responding to jury comments praising the professionalism and attention to detail shown by his team.
Iain Coucher said the development had been "complex"
Gateshead Cabinet member for Culture Linda Green revealed that the difficulty of the process almost scuppered the work. "For a while there was a chance that the Bridge might never open to the public again," she admitted, crediting the "considerable achievement" of the technicians.
"Their skill and ingenuity has meant that local people can continue enjoying this unique structure for many more years to come."
Contractors May Gurney researched 150 years of timetables in an attempt to accurately record the level of usage of the bridge. This enabled the company to tailor their strengthening efforts accordingly and keep the bridge open.
"All the methods and solutions we used to repair the defects on the bridge were chosen to preserve the original look and feel and had to be acceptable to conservationists," said John Wilkinson, managing director of major projects at May Gurney.
Tim Abbott, project manager for Mott MacDonald, said it had been "a fantastic project to work on." "The scheme was made particularly challenging due to the need to design strengthening works to satisfy structural requirements while complying with conservation principles," he explained. "It's a credit to the project team, many of whom worked on it for almost ten years."
Newcastle City Council Leader John Shipley called the site "the finest example of a cast iron bridge in the world." "It is a living tribute to world-class engineering and we are very proud of it." he added.
