{"id":238886,"date":"2025-06-20T20:21:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T10:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/railuk.com\/?p=178917"},"modified":"2025-06-20T20:21:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T10:21:13","slug":"network-rail-enlists-hawks-to-prevent-a-halt-in-stations-14-million-overhaul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=238886","title":{"rendered":"Network Rail enlists hawks to prevent a halt in station\u2019s \u00a314 million overhaul"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Network Rail has enlisted the services of a feathered enforcer to help prevent costly delays to its \u00a314 million refurbishment of Scarborough station.<\/p>\n

Maverick, a 15-month-old harris hawk, puts in two shifts a week at the coastal rail terminus \u2013 keeping gulls and crows from settling on the soon-to-be-replaced roof. Old slates have been removed already and nesting birds could mean work having to stop during the critical summer months of the extensive 12-month project.<\/p>\n

Maverick and fellow winged seaside sentry Lily patrol the site for an hour each visit and are rewarded with food from their Rentokil-employed keeper. Their arrival for work at the grade II-listed station always provokes a lively, squawking response from the surrounding birds \u2013 which often try standing their ground before sensibly retreating from the area.<\/p>\n

The hawks are kept under close control \u2013 eating only their pre-prepared food \u2013 and their patrol routes have allowed other birds to remain on sections of the roof which will not be touched until after nesting season.<\/p>\n

Ann Shannon, scheme project manager for Network Rail, said: \u201cThis is a \u00a314 million project which will make a massive difference to this historical station. Nesting would be a problem because if eggs were laid, we\u2019d have to stop our work. As we\u2019re replacing the roof, It could mean us losing two critical months this summer, and the costs would be phenomenal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re making major changes which will hugely improve Scarborough station for passengers and staff. This restoration will also include stonework and lighting repairs, upgrades to the ticket office, waiting area and drainage system, and improvements to the clocktower.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe changes will improve safety for station users \u2013 and preserve the building for generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

The roof repair project began in 2021 after a glazing failure. The station was made safe and, after funding constraints were overcome, the full restoration started in April this year with a target completion of the end of March 2026.<\/p>\n

The coastal location has meant other considerations aside from the seaside birds. Specific types of paint and timber are used because of the high salt content in the air. Welsh Ffestiniog slate is being fitted on the roof because it\u2019s tougher and should last about a century, while the valleys between the roof glazing are being made deeper to cope with a one-in-100-year weather event.<\/p>\n

Another major consideration has been fire safety. A full fireproof cover has been needed between the platform and roof works \u2013 meaning an extensive custom-designed ventilation system was required as fumes from the engines cannot currently escape naturally through the louvre windows. An hourly \u201cair purge\u201d is done through the fans, while some of the ground floor windows have been removed to aid ventilation.<\/p>\n

Scott Day, senior project manager at main contractors Colt Construction, said: \u201cWe developed the project through Network Rail\u2019s Project Acceleration in a Controlled Environment (PACE) design stages, and then won the tender to deliver the scheme.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just a roofing project, it\u2019s an improvement of a listed building, with upgraded stonework, painting, drainage \u2013 it\u2019s a complete scheme protecting an important listed building.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce the funding was in place, we reacted quickly to get the site set up. We\u2019ve been in contact with the residents and businesses to inform them of what\u2019s happening and shown them that what the future of the station will look like once it’s complete. It\u2019s exciting times for us and the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Passengers are advised that while disruption is being kept to a minimum, there may be some localised changes to station access during certain phases of the work. These changes will be sign-posted throughout the station.<\/p>\n

Image credit: Network Rail<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Network Rail has enlisted the services of a feathered enforcer to help prevent costly delays to its \u00a314 million refurbishment of Scarborough station. Maverick, a 15-month-old harris hawk, puts in two shifts a week at the coastal rail terminus \u2013 keeping gulls and crows from settling on the soon-to-be-replaced roof. Old slates have been removed [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":1,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16017,47,16092,85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-238886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-news","category-rail-news","category-stations","category-uk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=238886"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":238887,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238886\/revisions\/238887"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=238886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=238886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=238886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}