By Joe Locker, Local Democracy Reporter
More than £278,000 will be spent by Nottingham City Council on work to protect ancient caves beneath the former Broadmarsh Shopping Centre.
The work follows an inspection by heritage organisation Historic England, and a report now warns the council could face prosecution for failing to protect the site properly if changes are not made.
Last year Wilmott Dixon Construction began the first phase of the demolition of the 1970s shopping centre, after the site was handed back to the Labour-run council following the collapse of former owner intu.
Nottingham is widely-regarded for its caves and many of these sit under the foundations of the Greater Broad Marsh area, where the remains of the former shopping centre sit.
As such Historic England carried out an inspection in early 2022, following the demolition of elements of the Broadmarsh Centre and the area surrounding Severns House.
During the inspection it was discovered the foundations of the shopping centre had been “irreversibly” connected to the caves and the “fragile bedrock” they were dug into.
“The construction of the shopping centre and later works appears highly complex, and it would appear that irreversible relationships were created between ridged concrete fabric and fragile bedrock and caves,” delegated decision documents state.
Some of these caves were used as ‘tanning pits’, where animal hides were turned into leather. Some tanning pits in Nottingham date back more than 800 years.
Inspectors further observed “the cave roof infrastructure is exposed to
the elements and water levels in the caves were high”, while the collapse of deposits defining the tanning pits “have appeared as a result of water level fluctuations.”
Much of the area beneath the shopping centre also remains unmapped.
“The inspection indicated that current survey and mapping is incomplete and these present significant risk in the planning and management of works,” delegated decision documents reveal.
Should the council fail to protect what is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, it will be “open to prosecution” under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979, the report adds.
The authority has therefore approved a spend of £278,188, funded from secured capital receipts.
The works will include the removal of all demolition material left by intu from the concrete slab of the old Broadmarsh shopping centre and the covering-over of the concrete slab with a waterproof membrane to protect the caves from further water damage.
The council says it will also need to “arrange a 3D scan of the old shopping centre to ensure that the full extent of the cave network is identified and recorded to comply with Historic England requirements”.
