Project updates
July 2023 Update
Works to repair and restore Baginton Mill Bridge's historic stonework were completed in April 2023 by Warwickshire County Council's contractors, Balfour Beatty Living Places and Croft Building and Conservation. The work involved refacing and replacing over 400 of the most severely eroded sandstone blocks over the course of eight months, with minimal traffic disruption and environmental impact. The scheme has successfully increased the service life of structure and restored in important part of Warwickshire's local heritage.
June 2022 Update
Work to repair and restore Baginton Mill Bridge’s stone eroded stonework is due to begin on 13th June 2022. This will initially involve putting up the temporary structure supports, access scaffolds and footbridge which is expected to take four to five weeks. Once these structures are in place, stonemasons will begin work on the eroded sandstone. The damage to the parapet caused by a recent vehicle collision will also repaired as part of this work.
Site investigations and detailed structural assessment work have confirmed that the bridge is under strength. The structure is currently being monitored for signs of distress to ensure it remains safe and once the repairs to the damaged and eroded stonework are complete, a second phase of work to strengthen the brick arches will begin.
These works have been planned to keep disruption to a minimum by working on one side of the bridge at a time so that temporary two-way traffic signals can be used, instead of needing a road closure for the full duration. However, road closures will be needed at the beginning and end of the works to enable the erection and removal of the temporary support structures and for works within the carriageway. The first of these closures is planned from the 13th of June for up to five weeks. A signed diversion route will be in place during this time.
To provide a safe route for pedestrians throughout the works to the road bridge, a temporary footbridge will be erected adjacent to the scaffolding, on the west side of the road bridge.
Past project updates
August 2021 Update
The repair and restoration works planned for Baginton Mill Bridge have been rescheduled for Spring 2022 to accommodate the other schemes taking place on the roads around Baginton and to limit any environmental damage over the autumn and winter.
To undertake these repairs, the first task will be erecting the scaffolding and temporary arch support structures beneath the bridge, which will involve working from within the river. Other highway works taking place in the area mean that it is now not possible to close the road and complete this activity before the fish spawning season begins in October. As a result, the Environment Agency has stipulated that these works do not begin until Spring 2022 to avoid the risk of damaging the sensitive river habitat.
In the meantime, structural investigations to gather information on the bridge’s internal buried structure will continue. This will include a road closure over two to three days in late October to excavate a large trial hole over the arches to locate hidden structural elements that would contribute to the bridge’s strength.
July 2021 Update
Complications with securing a Flood Risk Environmental Permit from the Environment Agency have resulted in the proposed masonry repair works at Baginton Mill Bridge being delayed. Staffing issues have meant that this process has taken much longer than usual but the EA are now satisfied that the work can take place without increasing flood risk, or harming land drainage or the environment and we are now in receipt of the permits required for works to commence.
April 2021 Update
The design of the repairs proposed for Baginton Mill Bridge has been completed and is currently with Warwick District Council’s planning team for Listed Building Consent. The consent application has two parts, the first being for the repairs to the bridge’s masonry, the extent of which is summarised on the image below where each red square indicates an eroded stone that is to be replaced or refaced.
A second listed building consent application has been submitted to Warwick District Council for the addition of balustrade railings to the bridge’s parapets. Baginton Mill Bridge’s parapet heights are very low by modern standards and this, combined with the narrow footways, increases the risk of falls from the bridge. New black aluminium balustrades are proposed and will be attached to the top of stone parapets to improve pedestrian safety. These railings have been designed to be sympathetic to the listed structure’s heritage as can be seen on the drawing below. There is evidence at the north-west end of the bridge that the parapet incorporated a railing at some point in the past as the original stonework includes holes where a railing would have been fixed. A balustrade is proposed as opposed to increasing the height of the existing masonry as it improves safety without a significant increase in weight on the bridge arches and it can be removed without permanently altering the character of the bridge. You can comment on these listed building consent applications via Warwick District Council’s planning webpage.
Many of the eroded stones that are to be replaced are within the bridge’s arches themselves and their removal will result in a temporary loss of structural integrity. To manage this, a temporary support structure will be erected beneath the arches to ensure the structure is fully supported while the masonry is repaired. An extract of a drawing showing this temporary structure arrangement is shown below.
In addition to this temporary structural support, scaffolding will be erected on either side of the bridge to provide access for the stonemasons to carry out the masonry repairs. These scaffolds will be founded on the river banks and will span over the watercourse to minimise the risk of damage during flood events.
The scaffold on the western side of the bridge will also incorporate a temporary pedestrian footbridge. While undertaking the repairs to the bridge, it is our intention to avoid the need for full road closures wherever possible to minimise the disruption to local traffic. To do this, we plan to use temporary traffic signals to keep the traffic to one side of the bridge while repair work takes place on the other but this will mean that the footways will need to be temporarily closed for safety. A temporary footbridge will be erected to provide pedestrians with a safe route over the River Sowe and a sketch showing how this will look is shown below.
The temporary structural supports, scaffolding and footbridge require a bespoke flood risk environmental permit from the Environment Agency. Changes to working arrangements resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic have meant that this process is taking longer than normal. As a result, the start date for the bridge repairs has been pushed back to Monday 28 June. Further details on the works programme and traffic management arrangements will be updated here in due course.