GALLERY | Colwyn Bay’s Victoria Pier reopens

Following a three-year project, a team led by conservation architect Donald Insall Associates has completed work on the grade two-listed waterfront attraction.

Finished alongside the associated seawall improvements and adjacent landscaping, the improved pier is a part of the regeneration plans for the waterfront and town centre.

Originally opened in 1900, the pier was extended to include the Bijou Theatre, playing host to top entertainers. At its peak, the pier included three pavilions.

Severely dilapidated, the pier was closed in 2008 and later ravaged by Storm Doris in 2017, with parts collapsing into the sea. Subsequently, it was mostly dismantled for safety and preservation reasons.

On winning a competitive tender to bring back the pier as a smaller attraction in 2018, DIA inherited a structure comprising nine standing columns, a stone seawall and fragments of the previous structure. Parts of its work involved introducing materials and design features to better protect the ironwork from saltwater damage.

DIA said that through a combination of technical expertise, thorough historical investigation, and creative design, it has respected the pier’s character and past while reimagining it for the 21st century.

Brian Cossey, Conwy Council’s cabinet member for finance and chair of the Pier Project Board, said: “Having the pier open for the public to use once more is another piece in the multi-million-pound redevelopment of the Colwyn Bay waterfront and the physical regeneration of the town. It will be great to see families being able to enjoy the space as well as the beautiful coastline.”

Elgan Jones, senior architect at DIA, added: “Despite Colwyn Bay pier’s turbulent history, the fact that there has been a continued commitment to secure the future of its fine pier is testament to its centrality in the regeneration of the town and the waterfront.

“Our role in the project has brought a considered conservation approach, conserving what is significant about the pier while allowing lessons learnt from its previous disasters to inform new elements, which will better preserve the fabric in the long term.”

Click any image to launch the gallery. Credit for all images: Andy Marshall

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Can’t wait to visit. Really looks fantastic but will avoid taking long walks on a short pier

By CB

I visited yesterday and it’s great. The whole front is a revelation but why does the pier smell so bad?

By CN

That is not a pier a pier is supposed to go out to the sea that is a very disappointing platform
Cant put anything on it

Yours Shane

By Shane

Tell that to Wigan, Shane.

By Jeff

That’s not a Pier. It’s a fat Jetty!
Waste of money as usual. Piers are long, have buildings on them etc. What a joke Conwy Council are

By Johnno

Not a pier, doesn’t go over the sea. A complete waste of money. It serves no purpose, cannot even fish from it.

By Lester

You call that a pier. Waste of money. Conwy council are good at that. Hope in the future they will extend it out into the sea

By Adrian Salisbury

That’s a fancy jetty, a pier goes out much further out than that… designed for hobbits, not for the locals and tourists..

By Glenn

What a waste of money from Conwy Council again, who wants to walk on a empty platform, spend money on on the beaches of Llandudno, where it’s needed.

By Lesley

Why is everyone so happy with this, it’s not a pier it’s a postage stamp. Sorry to be such a kill joy but I was led to believe that the whole pier was to be restored..

By Garrin Amies

a complete waste of time and money. More than one screw loose in council members heads

By gregory

Its not a pier its more like a jettie

By Jones

Brilliant Start, as an outside observer a retro arcade with retro machines would have excellent tourist appeal similar to Zoltare up the coast

By BAZZA

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