After a depression was noticed in the garden of an older couple’s home in Kilsyth, North Lanarkshire, a member of their family found they had once received a letter from the then Coal Authority about a mine entry inspection in the area.
This report matched the location of the new ground movement, so they reported it to our public safety and subsidence team in April 2024.
Our investigations revealed that the change had been caused by the collapse of a historical coal mine shaft, which had created a void 20 metres below ground level.
The shaft itself was found to be nearly 120 metres deep and needed to be made safe to prevent a more serious incident.
A 3-month project was soon designed to fill the shaft with more than 1,700kg of resin, which was injected through a series of carefully drilled boreholes.
Due to access restrictions caused by the sloping nature of the garden, a custom-built platform needed to be built over the site to enable the work to be completed safely.
Access to the property itself also needed to be carefully considered due to the number of homes in the area, narrow roads and limited entry points.
Megan Phillips, project manager for the Mining Remediation Authority, said:
This was a challenging but rewarding project for a number of reasons. Most importantly, we were able to make the garden of the property safe for the couple living there and they have been extremely happy with the work we have done.
This is a family home that the couple have lived in for more than 40-years, so we also wanted to work with them to return their garden in good condition. We re-laid the garden and rebuilt the patio using existing materials.
Through close communication with the family and their neighbours to explain the scope of the work we needed to carry out, our teams and partners involved in the project really went above and beyond to make the garden safe.
The garden after the works were completed.
The Mining Remediation Authority holds records on 176,000 historical mine entries in Britain and we carry out proactive inspections of known coal mine shafts and adits (or tunnels) as part of a risk-assessed rolling programme to keep people safe and provide peace of mind.
You can also report a coal mine hazard to us, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, by calling 0800 288 4242.
