As a 24/7 emergency responder we work with local partners to protect life and property from the impacts of historical mining hazards. In November 2018, we were notified of a serious incident in Workington, Cumbria where a large hole had opened up in a living room floor. Since then we have worked closely with partners and the community to support those affected, stabilise the historical mine workings and enable a future for the site.
The Workington area has an extensive history of mine workings and our initial investigations uncovered that the likely cause of the collapse was a mineshaft. The shaft was more than 100 years old and around 120 metres deep. It posed a risk to seven other properties on the street and to ensure public safety, these properties needed to be purchased and demolished.
Homeowner support
We supported the homeowners affected to find new accommodation and arranged to buy their homes. Once personal belongings were removed, we moved quickly to demolish the properties to prevent further collapse and risk to public safety. To limit the impact on nearby homes and properties we demolished some sections of the property by hand.
It was also important that we adapted our work to accommodate the needs of vulnerable residents. This included delaying the project’s start date to enable an elderly resident time to find a suitable property for their needs. We also found temporary accommodation for elderly residents nearby whose homes were not purchased, limiting disruption to them while we carried out more intrusive and noisy work.
We worked closely with Cumberland Council to engage with residents and local stakeholders to ensure everyone had the opportunity to raise any queries or concerns they may have, as well as keeping the community informed.
We built a 27-metre platform to enable the safe use of a drilling rig to undertake the repair work to the mineshaft. We injected over 3,500 litres of specialist resin and cement material to stabilise the ground and make the surrounding area safe.
Monitoring equipment provides reassurance
To provide additional reassurance to residents living in the immediate vicinity, we installed monitoring equipment to measure for any movement or subsidence.
There has been no movement since the works concluded in October 2022.