Sydney Gardens Bridge

 

Sydney Gardens Bridge

As Network Rail’s heritage advisor for the project to electrify Brunel’s Great Western Railway to Bristol, we provided heritage and engineering support to Network Rail in the route’s greatest challenge: how to bring an electric railway through Sydney Gardens, part of the City of Bath World Heritage Site, in a way which preserved its high heritage significance while at the same time providing the necessary safety to passers-by.

Where the Great Western passes through the Sydney Gardens,Brunel chose to celebrate its presence, to provide a ‘Theatre of the Railway’ from which to view the trains, and to enhance the existing Georgian pleasure gardens with a number of stone over bridges and a cast-iron footbridge across the railway, with stone retaining walls and balustrades flanking the line. They are all now Grade II* or II Listed. None of these structures met the legal and regulatory requirements for an electrified railway and preventing unauthorised access to the track, so compliant designs were required.

We worked closely with Network Rail’s design team and contractors to challenge current Standards and, through a rigorous process nof Risk Assessment, arrive at a range of bespoke solutions which satisfied both Network Rail and key heritage stakeholders, from Historic England, the City’s Conservation and World Heritage Officers, and the Bath Preservation Trust. These were on the verge of gaining listed building consent when the project was officially ‘paused’, but they remain landmark examples of how to reconcile heritage, safety and operational requirements.

Client: Network Rail