Protecting & Conserving Heritage

The case study examines how heritage was protected and conserved during the construction of the Borough Viaduct and Borough High Street Bridge.

Construction of the new Borough Viaduct and Borough High Street Bridge provided twin tracking into the west side of London Bridge station, relieving an historic bottle neck. The alignment of the viaduct, a new structure extending 322 meters running alongside the existing viaduct to double the capacity of the route into London Bridge Station, was carefully selected to minimise the loss of listed buildings.

To make way for the new structure a number of buildings were demolished and new buildings were constructed on the footprint of the previous buildings on completion of the viaduct. All buildings were fully recorded and archeologists were employed during all excavations to ensure that the archaeological resource was fully recorded. Designs were developed in consultation with English Heritage and Southwark Council to achieve structures sympathetic to the Borough High Street Conservation Area context.

Heritage features preserved

Notable achievements were:

• Refurbishment and reinstatement of the Borough Market roof, which was bisected by the new Borough Viaduct, whilst keeping the market trading
• Removal of the top floor of the grade ll listed Wheatsheaf pub to accommodate the Viaduct passing above, whilst retaining the main structure of the pub below. A new basement and ground floor rear extension was constructed to enable the building to continue to operate as a pub. Additionally a derelict site in the heart of the conservation area was cleared and brought back into use as a beer garden.
• Re-alignment of the viaduct at design stage in order to preserve the grade ll listed Globe pub
• Demolition of listed 16-26 Borough High St was essential to accommodate the new Borough High St bridge – but a substantial corner of the site was redeveloped as the glazed market hall entrance, a new gateway to Borough Market, with retail space
• Demolition of unlisted 11-15 Borough High St and its replacement with a modern office building and ground floor retail. The foundations were designed such as to preserve the remains of a Roman bath house, now a Scheduled Monument
• Demolition and reinstatement of 11-14 Bedale St and new rear additions to 1-13 Park St, a listed Georgian terrace
• The construction of the new rail viaduct exposed a range of archaeological finds, excavated by Museum of London and documented in a monograph Living and Dying in Southwark 1587-1831

The Borough High St Conservation Area, now a major tourist attraction focused on the successful food market, had been preserved from comprehensive redevelopment in the twentieth century by the presence of the railway. Now the addition of a new section of railway, with sensitive refurbishment and redevelopment of adjacent buildings, positively enhances the character and appearance of the Conservation Area for the next generation.

Further information

For more information on this Learning Legacy case study please email contact@thameslinkprogramme.co.uk