Engineering Historian and conservationist Professor Roland Paxton, of Heriot-Watt University, says it provides a unique record of the early development of metal bridge engineering.

The Braid Burn Bridge is made of four cast iron beams of shape not known to remain in any other structure. When the bridge needed to be raised and replaced as part of essential flood relief work commissioned by The City of Edinburgh Council, the contractor, Harry Lynch, had to perform the operation with enormous care.

The contractors faced additional problems when they found that the beams had been bedded into cast iron sections on the bank and had rusted in.

The ICE commendation was made in recognition of the exceptional care the client and contractors took in raising the bridge without damaging such an important piece of engineering history.

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