On the 7th October 2023, Scantech International were called out for an emergency, at the time of arrival an approximately 25m length of Plessey Viaduct structure was leaning and moving rapidly. Network Rail initiated immediate repair efforts, working to restore the structural integrity of the viaduct and resume normal rail operations. Despite challenges posed by adverse weather conditions, including Storm Babet, engineers successfully completed the necessary repairs within a month.
Plessey Viaduct is a Grade II – listed structure completed in 1879. The viaduct runs over 100 feet (39 meters) at its highest point and spans over a deep valley. The construction of Plessey Viaduct played a crucial role in the industrial development of Newcastle as well as surrounding areas.
On the 7th of October, we were contacted by one of our longest serving clients Amco Giffen who informed us on the current situation with the Viaduct and that they required constant monitoring of the structure to check for any more movement within the structure.
We sent a team up as soon as we were alerted. Shortly after, followed by 2nd team to work throughout the night once we understood the severity of the situation.
Before the 2nd team had arrived, a 25-meter section of viaduct plunged into the valley below.
As this happened unexpectedly, Scantech International’s teams lodged in a local hotel to be on site several times throughout the day to monitor for any other potential movement within the structure (By the end, we were lodged there for over 3 weeks).
Whilst on site, we produced: 3D Colourised Point Cloud, Heat map monitoring, drone animations, topographical drawings and many more. With this data, all site managers who couldn’t be on site had a real-time visualization of the current state the structure was in. The point cloud data was accurate to +/- 5mm and was also used to plan and execute the repair process.
We also did Point Cloud monitoring in real time comparing all data we produced to check for any movement.
With the structure and its state changing day-by-day whether that was due to; devegetation, creating pathways for heavy machinery to get to inaccessible parts of the viaduct, or clearing up the fallen debris. Scantech International were on site every day for over 3 weeks producing real-time data to aid.
As soon as Amco Giffen were on site and saw the severity of the situation we were called immediately, this was due to:
After our work at Plessey Viaduct came to an end, our expertise didn’t go unnoticed. Since then, we have been contacted immediately for most landslides around the country.
