Expert hopes to save mines

When Big Ben was in jeopardy of collapsing, Londoners called in Professor John Burland.

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The Leaning Tower of Pisa is also still standing thanks to the professor, and now the engineering expert is turning his attention on the Black Country.

Professor Burland, a geo-technics lecturer at Imperial College, London, will be stabilising the limestone mines under Dudley so they can be turned into an exciting tourist attraction.

He said: "The first time I went into the mines it took my breath away. Before you go down into the caverns you don't know what to expect, but it is like walking into a cathedral - the space is incredible."Professor Burland has been involved in some high profile projects, these include schemes such as building the underground car park at the Palace of Westminster and strengthening the foundations of the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre.

Without his advice the tower of Big Ben may have acquired a definite tilt because of work on the Jubilee tube line extension.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa was on the verge of collapsing but using Professor Burland's expertise, 30 tons of silt was removed, causing it to move vertically.

But Professor Burland insists that, despite the limestone mines not being as widely known as Big Ben and the Leaning Tower of Pisa, they are just as important.

"Everyone has heard of the Industrial Revolution and when you tell them that it started in the Black Country you have immediately got their interest," he said.

"This area is responsible for the history and the wealth of Great Britain - this is where it all began and we need to honour that," he explained.

"One of the biggest challenges will be to stabilise the mines in such a way that it doesn't change its character. It will look as it did when the miners left it.

"There is no question that it will be safe. We will use discrete rock bolting to hold the stone together in the caverns.

"Keeping the leaning columns of the Seven Sisters as they are means we will have to be very careful, but it is not impossible," added the professor.

Ambitious plans to open the mine form part of the Black Country's £50 million bid to become an urban park.

This week it is up against the Eden Project, Sustrans cycle network and Sherwood Forest in the TV lottery bid.

Professor Burland says that the mines' Wren's Nest site will become an important educational facility for geologists and engineers alike.

"There are huge walls where you can see the ripple marks which were created six hundred million years ago on a prehistoric beach," he went on to say.

"From a geology point of view there is nothing like this anywhere else in the world and I would definitely take my students down to the site. However we are in danger of losing the mines forever.

"It is like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, you know it is going to collapse, you just don't know when and the longer you leave it the greater the risk. I'm sure that people in the Black Country feel very strongly about preserving this, otherwise their contribution to England's wealth and prosperity could be lost and possibly forgotten by future generations," added the professor.