North Bridge, Edinburgh

Restoration and Refurbishment

The North Bridge, Edinburgh, was originally built in 1772 and rebuilt by Sir William Arrol & Co. in 1897. It is arguably the most is the most outstanding of the city's many bridges/viaducts and spans the ravine between the New Town and the Old Town.

During the 1990s major restoration work and refurbishment was completed on the bridge by Ballantine Bo’ness Iron which included renewing the cast iron parapets, panels and columns. Being 93 years old they were showing a fair degree of deterioration, but still acted as a testament to the durability of cast iron. In total we were responsible for overseeing, planning, designing and site consultation for the fabrication and erection of over 250 metres of 3 metre long cast iron parapets.

Due to the ever increasing traffic load on the Bridge, we replaced the old parapet panels with new panels, in ductile iron, to give greater strength and improved capability to withstand the impact of collision. We have also recently replaced some of the 40 foot lamp columns (please see our Lamp-posts and Columns section in the Catalogue) that adorn the bridge. 10 years on the bridge still looks great, but retains its proud heritage.