New retaining wall to be built to protect York's ancient city walls

When the bridge was pulled down over the weekend of April 27/28, the approach ramp at the southern end was left in place to act as a 'piling platform' to allow the retaining wall to be built.

Council bosses stress that the city walls were closely monitored throughout the demolition process – and say ‘no movement has been recorded to date’.

Once in place the new retaining wall will ‘support the embankments and protect the city walls from any possible movement once the remaining parts of the bridge are removed’, a spokesperson for City of York Council said.

A car passes the remains of the Queen Street Bridge's southern approach ramp, which have been left in place to act as a 'piling platform' to allow a protective retaining wall to be built (Image: Stephen Lewis)

“Construction of the piled retaining wall will begin in about two weeks’ time and is expected to take two months,” the spokesperson said.

“At that stage the remainder of the bridge will be removed.”

Contractor Sisk is also expected to begin work on a permanent new road at about the same time as the retaining wall is being built.

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The new road and layout will include ‘improvements to cycling and walking facilities, the new bus interchange and public realm areas’, the council spokesperson said.

The work is part of the wider York Station Gateway project, which aims to transform the station frontage.

The remains of the Queen Street Bridge's southern approach ramp, which have been left in place to act as a 'piling platform' to allow a protective retaining wall to be built (Image: Stephen Lewis)The council stresses that the historic city walls have been carefully monitored throughout the ongoing work.

The city walls and ramparts are designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

“This means they are nationally important, and any works which might have an impact on them need a special permission, called a Scheduled Monument Consent, from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS),” the council spokesperson said.

A Scheduled Monument Consent was agreed by the DCMS before the work was carried out.

Historic view of traffic on the Queen Street Bridge about 100 years ago (Image: Explore York Libraries and Archives)

The council says a specialist team of inspectors and engineers from Historic England – which acts as an advisor to the DCMS - have been working on the project for several years.

They reviewed the proposed works well in advance.

“A key part of this was the installation of a monitoring system, with monitoring targets being attached to the walls and embankments,” the council spokesperson said.

“This allowed the council, Historic England and the contractor to monitor the behaviour of the walls before, during and after the works.

CGI view of how the new road layout in front of York Railway Station might look once the Station Gateway project is complete (Image: Planning documents/ supplied)

“Advance works enabled the team to understand typical wall movement throughout the year and develop a plan to mitigate for any movement during or after the works.

“During the Queen Street Bridge demolition works, no movement has been recorded to date.”

The Station Gateway project is being delivered in partnership by City of York Council, Network Rail, LNER and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority alongside contractor John Sisk & Son.

It is part funded by the UK government.