The restoration of the grade II listed West Park Bridge carried out by the city council alongside its partners, consulting engineers Scott Wilson and contractor Carillion, has won a national award from the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE).
 
The restoration of the grade II listed structure was one of four projects chosen from 25 entries across the country for the Historic Bridges and Infrastructure Awards.

Other projects to receive awards were the High Level Bridge, Newcastle; Shaken Bridge Reconstruction, North Yorkshire and Weetwood Bridge Stabilisation, Northumberland.

Carried out in 2006, the work to the bridge was praised by the judges for “considerable attention to detail, resulting in a very sympathetic and authentic restoration”.

The cast iron 10-metre long bridge spanning an area of the boating lake was designed by the borough surveyor, Mr G Eastlake Thoms, and built by J Bradney & Co of Wolverhampton as part of the creation of West Park which opened on June 6, 1881.

The project to bring the bridge back to its former glory followed on from a wider restoration scheme which has seen the park benefit from millions of pounds worth of investment in recent years.

West Park has been described as “one of England’s finest Victorian parks” in the Good Parks Guide and “a jewel in the middle of the city of Wolverhampton” by national tourism agency, Visit Britain.