Viaduct repair work wins award

The restoration work on the 220-metre long Milverton Viaduct was a winning entry in an awards scheme run by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) in the West Midlands.

Competing against 22 other entries from across the West Midlands, the project received the Construction Award.

Also in the awards scheme was restoration work on the Grade-II listed Leamington Station, which was opened in the 1850s. However, the restoration work to the station’s Art Deco facade, including reglazing the canopy, did not make it to the winning post.

Forming part of the Leamington to Coventry line, the Milverton Viaduct skirts the western edge of Victoria Park, which was opened in 1899 to mark Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee.

The viaduct spans the River Leam and crosses several footpaths and the busy Prince’s Drive-Park Drive traffic island.

It had suffered from long-term water penetration and the project was to make it waterproof and repair it.

The work involved the use of more than 168 cubic metres of concrete, 2,000 tonnes of ballast and nearly 1,000 new railway sleepers.

The work was a partnership formed between Network Rail and Story Contracting Limited.

Tim Harbot, chairman of ICE West Midlands, said: “Civil engineers are leading the way with the planning, design and delivery of major infrastructure across the region, from transport, to water, from energy to waste, from structures to the environment.

“The Milverton Viaduct project impressed the judges by the excellent programme management that was implemented over a very short 129-hour window.”

Work began in late 2012 and the core waterproofing works were scheduled for a 129-hour timetable beginning late on Christmas Eve.