Donald Insall Associates revamps Colwyn Bay’s Victoria Pier

Following a three-year project, as part of the town’s waterfront regeneration, Donald Insall Associates have completed work on Colwyn Bay’s Grade II-listed pier. Over its 121-year history, three pier complexes built on the site have been destroyed by fire and, most recently, by the elements.

Severely dilapidated since its closure in 2008 and ravaged by Storm Doris in 2017, the pier was dismantled in 2018 to ensure public safety and safeguard the remaining structure. When Donald Insall Associates came onboard, planning and listed building consents were already in place to reinstate the initial three bays of the pier – the challenge facing the practice was to develop the technical designs.

Their philosophy of repair over restoration meant – in partnership with Conwy County Borough Council – they achieved the reinstatement of the pier by retaining and repairing the stone seawall, nine remaining columns and the decorative cast-ironwork, as well as reinterpreting the lighting, based on the original designs.

The result is a truncated pier (now protruding just 45m, it is the nation’s second shortest pier) and a sui generis public space, not without a certain Truman Show quality when seen empty in Andy Marshall’s pictures.

This summer, the Colwyn Bay of yesteryear – a fashionable seaside resort favoured by prosperous Victorian travellers – is worth visiting again.

The National Piers Society has recorded a detailed history of the pier.