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Saturday 6 Jun 2009

HIGH LEVEL BRIDGE WINS GRAND PRIZE AT TOP EUROPEAN AWARDS

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Seven years hard work and £40m investment in the restoration of the High Level Bridge has been recognised by the European Union prize for Cultural Heritage/Europa Nostra awards 2009 - the only award of this kind in England this year.

The bridge received a grand prize on top of the 2009 European heritage award for conservation that was formally announced at an award ceremony in Sicily on Friday night. The prestigious prize also brings an award of €10,000.

The Jury’s comments said they were enormously impressed with the level of engineering professionalism shown in this project, from original research into the fatigue performance of cast-iron, down to the restoration of the original lamp standards. The granting of a Grand Prize represents the importance the Jury attached to the retention in day-to-day use of such engineering icons of our industrial heritage. (see www.europanostra.org/ for more information).

Iain Coucher, chief executive, Network Rail, said: "This award is a fabulous recognition of the detailed and complex work which went into the High Level Bridge project. It's a unique structure and our engineers had to develop new techniques to protect the bridge whilst respecting its Grade 1 listing. The fact that Europa Nostra has recognised this achievement is an excellent reflection on all of those who worked so hard to make the project a success."

The awards scheme, jointly organised by the European Commission and Europa Nostra, the pan-European Federation for cultural heritage celebrates outstanding initiatives within the European cultural heritage sector and highlights exceptional restoration and conservation, research and education achievements, as well as dedicated service to heritage conservation.

Councillor Linda Green, Gateshead’s Cabinet member for Culture, said: “I am delighted that the complex task of restoring one of Tyneside’s major cultural icons has received the recognition it deserves.

“Restoring the High Level Bridge proved to be a much more difficult process than originally thought, and for a while there was a chance that the bridge might never open to the public again. This award recognises Network Rail’s and their partners' considerable achievement in rescuing Stephenson’s High Level Bridge. Their considerable skill and ingenuity has meant that local people can continue enjoying this unique structure for many more years to come.”

Leader of Newcastle City Council, John Shipley, added: "The High Level Bridge is a 160 year old Grade 1 Listed structure built by Robert Stephenson which is not only a vital public transport route linking the centres of Newcastle and Gateshead but also the finest example of a cast iron bridge in the world and as such a treasured historic attraction. It is a living tribute to world class engineering and we are very proud of it.”

This is the only award being given by Europa Nostra in England this year; in total there are 28 Award winners from 15 European countries. Just seven of those winners were chosen to receive a Grand Prize with the reward of €10.000.

The historic importance of the bridge and the amount of road and rail traffic using it each day meant a sensitive approach to the repair project was needed by May Gurney, the infrastructure services company contracted by Network Rail. “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.

"Thorough testing of the cast iron components and a trawl back through 150 years of train timetables to gauge the weight and frequency of the locomotives that have used the bridge enabled us to minimise the amount of intrusive and costly strengthening work that needed to be carried out. This meant we were able to keep the bridge open for use, saving Network Rail considerable expense and avoiding serious disruption to the users”

Mott MacDonald's project manager Tim Abbott added: “The scheme was made particularly challenging due to the need to design strengthening works to satisfy structural requirements while complying with conservation principles. It has been a fantastic project to work on and it's a credit to the project team, many of whom worked on it for almost ten years".