The year-long restoration of Scarborough station is entering its final phase, with the project set to deliver even more benefits to the town than originally anticipated.
The £14 million investment has focused on essential structural repairs, including a new roof and drainage systems, while carefully preserving the unique historical character of the Grade II-listed building.
The project, which saw full restoration work begin in spring 2025 following a glazing failure in 2021, has required significant logistical planning to ensure the station remained open to the public throughout the construction period. Because of the station's prominent coastal location, specialists had to account for the harsh salt-heavy sea air by using specific types of timber, paint, and tile. In a further nod to the local environment, hawks were employed during the height of the summer to prevent seagulls from nesting in the main roof during critical works.
As the scaffolding begins to come down, the focus has shifted to the station’s clock tower, an addition to the project that was made possible through a £203,000 grant from the Railway Heritage Trust. Ann Shannon, the scheme project manager for Network Rail, explained how the scope of the restoration grew once the team gained better access to the site.
"We have been working closely with the Railway Heritage Trust because we were originally just going to do some stonework repairs, but once we got the scaffolding up and we could access the full area, we thought it would be a really nice idea if we could repair all of the four clock faces, we could repair the finials and there was some lead works to clean up and also to repair the uplighting.
So, the Railway Heritage Trust have kindly donated some funds to help us do those works. And so, The clock tower will be in its full glory once once the works are complete."
The project team confirms that the main trainshed roof has already been repaired and repainted, and a new lighting system has been installed to improve the passenger environment. Ann Shannon detailed the current state of the station as the finish line approaches:
"The scaffolding is removed already from the train shed, so you can move around much more freely and the whole of the front of the station will be free of scaffold and the crowning glory will obviously be the clock tower with all the stonework repaired and the finials and on an evening it'll be lit up which will look really nice.
All of the louvres are complete and the main train shed roof has been repaired and all completely painted with the new lighting system inside.
We've still got quite a bit of work to do that mainly is in the ticket office and waiting area and also some works up on the clock tower."
Ann says the project is on track to be completed by 31 March.
The Railway Heritage Trust emphasised that this project represents one of its most significant investments in recent years, specifically aimed at mitigating the long-term damage caused by coastal pollution and weather. Tim Hedley-Jones, the executive director of the trust, underscored the importance of the work for the local community:
“We’re pleased to award one of our largest grants of recent years to the work which Network Rail and Colt Construction are undertaking at Scarborough. Having seen at close hand the effect of the weather and pollution on the clocktower, we are determined to support the restoration of this impressive structure so that it can be appreciated by passengers and residents for generations to come.”
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