Balmoral Bridge refurbishment

Balmoral Road Bridge refurbishment
Duration – 16 weeks
October 2014

THE historic bridge that has carried generations of the Royal Family over the River Dee from Balmoral Castle has been refurbished by Diack and Macaulay.  We were tasked with replacement of timbers which have been damaged by years of fungal decay.

The Balmoral Bridge – a Category A listed structure – was built to a design by Isambard Kingdom Brunel between 1856 and 1858 on the orders of Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria. The Empress of India, however, was said to “not amused” by the completed plate girder structure because of its lack of ornamentation.

This is a contract we are particularly proud of, the works involved suspending an underslung scaffold system beneath this historic bridge.  Full encapsulation of scaffold to allow for a full blasting and painting of the existing structural steelwork and for the removal of the existing timber deck ready for the installation of new transverse beams and new RC deck on top of these. We then installed brand new granite kerbs in preparation for the new surfacing being laid.