This 23 span viaduct carries the Crewe – Stockport railway line over the River Dane.  It was constructed with brick piers, arches and spandrel walls topped by masonry parapets and is a Grade II listed structure.

CAN was appointed to carry out extensive brickwork repairs to 5 of the arches in locations where conventional access methods were less financially viable due to adverse ground conditions.  CAN’s proposal was to use a combination of lightweight CAN-Span cradles in conjunction with rope access.

Initial access across the 5 arches was created by traversing along the external face of the parapets, installing temporary anchors for protection of the workers and to suspend cradles.  This avoided any requirement to work trackside with the associated possession constraints.

A series of aerial rope-ways were installed to transport materials from lower field level across steep and uneven ground, powered by mechanical winches.

Badly deteriorating brickwork was re-cased on pier faces, arch soffits and spandrel walls, using bricks selected to match existing and approved by English Heritage.  All larger repairs were carried out by sequentially breaking out and repairing on a hit-and-miss basis to retain the viaduct’s structural integrity.

Brickwork repointing was undertaken using heritage grade lime mortar and crack stitching employed to further reinforce the structure.

Duration:       24 weeks

Client:            Murphy Group

Location:       Holmes Chapel, Cheshire