Engineers set with the task of repairing a collapsed section of Chester City Walls are setting up base at the nearby Dee House.

Back in January 2020, a section of the wall collapsed close to the Eastgate clock, parallel to St John Street. Since then, very little progress has been made on the repair work, as Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWaC) has embarked on legal action against alleged third parties the local authority said were responsible for the collapse. Letters of claim have been issued against said third parties, who deny wrongdoing.

During that time, council engineers, alongside external specialists, designed and built scaffold propping to prevent the outer wall from collapsing as well. A temporary walkway was incorporated into the scaffold propping, carefully designed to protect the Wesley Church Centre, take into account crypts and other buried archaeology between the Church and the City Walls, and maintain a fire escape route for the surrounding buildings.

In recent weeks, 8ft tall vegetation at the site of the collapse has been cleared away, in preparation for further enabling works.

To do that, engineers Balvac, part of Balfour Beatty, have set up their base at the disused Dee House site.

But it will take a long time before repairs are completed, as CWaC has outlined the schedule of works.

The repairs will be in three stages; stage one is for enabling works for the site, to provide access, erect temporary propping, and cover the workface. Stage two, to take place in summer 2025, is investigatory works, which are required to inform the third repair stage scheduled for summer 2026.

The site of the collapse is landlocked and has limited space available. For this reason, Balvac is setting up site offices, welfare units and some storage at the Dee House site. A secured area of the Grosvenor Car Park will be used to access the site. Entry to the car park will not be affected and pre-agreed deliveries to shop units will be accommodated.

Noise, vibration and air quality monitoring equipment will be installed before work starts.

A temporary ramp will be constructed to provide access from the basement of the car park up into the rear yard of 15-19 Newgate Street. The ramp will support the construction plant required for the works (motorised barrow, mini excavator, compacting roller etc.) and be able to support the delivery of materials.

Councillor Karen Shore, deputy leader of the council and cabinet member for environment, transport and highways, said: “The site of the collapse is landlocked, the first stage of repairs includes building a ramp from the Grosvenor Car Park into the site. Following this, the painstaking job begins to remove and record all of the material that fell, whist propping and protecting the wall from further damage.

“The progress can be followed on a dedicated web page.”

All changes to the Wall including maintenance and repair work, need Scheduled Monument Consent from the Secretary of State.

Between 2013 and 2022 the council has spent more than £6.1 million in the upkeep and repair of the walls. Annual spend on capital works is now £300k and on revenue works, £60k. The value of the capital workbank is currently £10.5 million, of which £3.8 million is work that is considered essential in the short-term.