First new section of Birnbeck Pier lifted into place
Almost every single part of the pier walkway is set to be removed and replaced as part of a ÂŁ20m restoration project
Last updated 9th Jun 2026
The first new section of Birnbeck Pier has been lifted into place, connecting the pier to Weston-super-Mare once again.
North Somerset Council’s specialist contractors Mackley craned the first new steel bridge span into place on Sunday June 7. It replaces the deteriorated section between the land to the first set of cast iron legs which was removed in February.
Almost every single part of the pier walkway is set to be removed and replaced as part of the major project to restore the pier. Only the cast iron cylindrical legs will remain throughout the works. Parts with heritage significance will be tagged and will be reused where possible or, if they are too far deteriorated, new parts will be recast from moulds.
Explaining the plan at the start of the works in February, Mackley’s area manager Paul Nutter said: “We are using modern technologies/modern steels so the structure will hopefully last longer when it is complete but the furniture items, the handrails that sit on top of the decking, will be sympathetic to the original heritage of the structure.”
Wood removed from the pier walkway is being turned into handmade furniture by Somerset Wood Recycling that will be available for sale in the Pier Master’s Cottage once it has been turned into a shop and cafe. Income generated from the sale of the furniture items will be invested in the day-to-day maintenance of the pier.
Birnbeck Pier, which is unique in being the only one in the country to connect to an island, was designed by master pier builder Eugenius Birch and opened in 1867. During the Second World War, it was taken over by the Admiralty for scientific research and renamed HMS Birnbeck. But in the decades after the war, visitors declined as cheap international travel became popular and the dilapidated pier had to be closed to the public on safety grounds in 1994.
The grade II* listed pier had been listed as one of the most at-risk structures in the country and restoring it is North Somerset Council’s flagship regeneration project. It hopes to reopen the pier in 2027 .
The iconic Waverley paddle steamer could even call at the pier once reopened — if the pier’s north jetty and landing stage can also be rebuilt — with tourists arriving by boar once again expected to bring a further economic boost. On a special journey by the paddle steamer to see the work underway on the pier earlier this month, P.S. Waverley general manager Paul Semple told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “If the north jetty is recommissioned for ships to call then it will be like turning back the hands of time when paddle steamers called in the past.”
Restoring the jetty is not part of the works which have currently been commissioned, but an extra £19m in funding for the pier, secured from the government’s “growth mission fund” by Weston-super-Mare MP Dan Aldridge in March, could pay for its rebuilding.
The funding brought the total total amount of funding announced for the project to over £44m. Funding has also been provided by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the RNLI, the previous government’s Levelling Up Fund, the National Heritage Memorial Fund and Historic England.