Thursday August 28th 2025
The Bridge House and Sonia's Bistro in Hawick
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Paul Kelly
An innovative engineering team that stepped into the breach after the dramatic collapse of a building at the heart of Hawick has received national recognition.
The Bridge House Guest House and Sonia’s Bistro in Sandbed fell victim to Storm Ciara in February 2020, when flood water smashed into the building, causing its corner to collapse into the River Slitrig.
Representatives of Hawick Flood Protection Scheme later moved in to secure the site.
Now the joint work on the site has been rewarded with an honour at the recent UK Ground Engineering Awards 2025.
Albion Drilling Group, CPE Consultancy, Jacobs and Scottish Borders Council and SBC Contracts won the award for a standalone project or part of a larger development with a contract value of between £1m and £3m.
Team members overcame “complex engineering challenges” to bring the flood work in the area to a successful conclusion.
The award recognised a ground engineering project “that stands out in terms of its credentials in innovation, sustainability, health and safety and value engineering”.
A report stated: “Sandbed was regarded as the most challenging of the forty-two work-sections of the Hawick Flood Protection Scheme.
“Difficulties worsened in February 2020 when flooding during Storm Ciara collapsed the Bridge House Guesthouse.
“Despite major challenges, the team achieved the target dates within overall programme to deliver flood protection to 970 properties.
“The works involved installation of a contiguous piled wall, capping beam and upstand river wall (42m long, 15m deep) inside a steel sheet-piled wall. 74No. 406mm diameter permanent casings were drilled at 600mm centres along the length of the wall.
“Casings were taken down below rockhead level, 10.5m depth below piling platform level. Once sufficiently into rock a 356mm diameter DHD bit progressed 3m further to the pile toe level.
“Through partnership working and careful planning this project overcame tough geo-technical requirements and complex engineering challenges to achieve successful delivery whilst mitigating environmental risk in a safe working environment.”
Representatives were presented with the award at a meeting of Scottish Borders Council last week.
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