Confined in the depths of an old town, investigation of Waverley Vaults, Edinburgh

The investigation of urban archaeological sites can lead to complex health and safety, logistical and engineering issues. One such case was the evaluation and excavation of significant archaeology beneath Waverley Railway Station, Edinburgh. Because our client desired the construction of the new City of Edinburgh Council Headquarters to follow immediately after the demolition of the Waverley Vaults, archaeological mitigation works had to be completed before demolition. However, to excavate through the floor of the vaults, AOC Archaeology Group was required to use heavy plant within 19th century vaults that had not been designed with adequate ventilation for the emission of plant fumes (the reason the vaults were closed in the 1960s). The Vaults were also adjacent to the main railway line south from Waverley Station and any archaeology works had to satisfy stringent rail work permits and health and safety requirements.

The solution AOC Archaeology Group came up with was to install a temporary ventilation system to create a sufficiently strong air current to ensure carbon fumes did not build up. While anyone can employ specialist contractors to carry out this work, our archaeologists were required to monitor the gas levels to ensure that the system of safe working was operating efficiently and to take appropriate action if gas levels approached a critical level. In situations like this a proper programme of staff training pays dividends. Because our staff had undertaken confined space training, AOC Archaeology Group could design a safe system of work for its team in the peculiar conditions of this site.

As a result of this solution, the team recovered archaeological evidence for the development of urban space from the 17th century to the end of the 20th century in this part of the World Heritage Site of Old Town Edinburgh. The stratigraphic sequence of archaeological deposits demonstrated the transformation of the backlands of a high status post-medieval burgh house by one of the first urban civic improvements of the Scottish Enlightenment that, after being superseded by the transformation of Edinburgh in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, was reduced to make way for a significant late 19th century industrial structure. The results of this excavation was published in early 2008 in Post-Medieval Archaeology, the journal of the Society for Post-medieval Archaeology.

AOC Project Manager: Ronan Toolis
Project Manager: Multiplex
Client: Norwich Union Life and Pensions Ltd