PONTCYSYLLTE Aqueduct has won a civil engineering excellence award for its regeneration.

The landmark, which celebrates its 200th birthday next year, has won the Historic Bridge and Infrastructure Award from the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE).

The awards recognise and encourage excellence and innovation in civil engineering conservation across England and Wales.

Thomas Telford's iconic aqueduct and the nearby Trevor Basin on the Llangollen Canal attract more than 200,000 visitors each year.

The aqueduct's 19 spans are carried high above the river Dee on masonry piers, making maintenance and repair difficult and expensive.

Consequently, its first major refurbishment was only undertaken recently, as it had had no structural attention since it opened in 1805.

The judges commented that: '(The aqueduct) had experienced a great preservation scheme to ensure the revolutionary structure would be safe with a minimum of attention for the next 50 years.'

Roland Paxton, chairman of HBIA, said: 'Competition for this year's awards was very strong indeed. The awards are important because they recognise and encourage excellence and innovation in historic civil engineering.'

The annual Historic Bridge and Infrastructure Awards started in 1998.

Nominated projects must involve the structural maintenance, strengthening, restoration or conservation of a structure more than 30 years old, within the categories of bridges and aqueducts or other civil engineering structures pertaining to transport.

Nominated projects must be within England or Wales and must have been completed within two years of the closing date for nominations.

The awards were sponsored by ICE's Panel for Historical Engineering Works (PHEW), English Heritage, Network Rail, British Waterways and the County Surveyors Society.