Bridge designers were invited back in July to produce innovative, sustainable designs for a crossing over the A127, close to the northern end of the Lower Thames Crossing route in Essex.
The winning design could also form the new footbridge standard for National Highways and be replicated across roads countrywide.
More than 30 entrants were received and assessed anonymously, and judged on their proposed use of low carbon materials and construction methods, and evidence of good design principles to allow ease of access and ‘a pleasant crossing experience’.
The winning design is due to be announced in late spring 2025.
The five shortlisted entries are:
Arup and Sean Harrington Associates: A two-span bridge with twin haunched glulam girders, with an all-steel central pier and steep reinforced earth embankments for the approaches.
Arup associate director Martin Hooton said: “Our innovative approach reimagines a range of low carbon strategies with the outcome of low carbon and a realistic opportunity for re-use at the end of life. This achievement highlights what can be realised when sustainability, efficiency and elegance are at the forefront of design.”
Cowi and Moxon: A slender timber bridge supported on a V-shape stainless steel pier, minimising span lengths for an efficient low carbon solution.
Cowi project director Ben Curry said: “This competition has been a unique and enjoyable opportunity to bring some genuine innovation into highway overbridge design… We’re delighted to have reached the final five and, irrespective of the result, hope this competition will be a catalyst for the next generation of super-low-carbon bridges.”
Davies Maguire: A timber bridge with twin haunched girders, an inclined steel prop as the main pier and stone columns for the approach piers.
Davies Maguire bridge engineer George Fletcher, said: “The Davies Maguire entry offers an innovative, modern approach to timber bridge design and construction. The longevity of timber, when used correctly, is proven by centuries-old timber bridges across Europe. These historical examples often feature covered and enclosed designs, protecting the supporting structure from weather and other environmental factors. We propose to utilise emerging technological innovations, particularly in advanced timber construction and pre-stressed stone, and combine this with a creativity and sensitivity toward the landscape, site, materials and the end users. Providing adequate protection through ingenuity of detailing, we will present an exemplary, long-lasting, and sustainable structure for the future.”
Useful Studio Architects and Expedition Engineering: A modular truss bridge designed on the basis of regeneration and circularity, re-using steel materials and adopting an industrial process for repeatability and efficiency.
Useful Studio founding director Catherine Ramsden said: “We propose an elegant bridge designed using the regenerative principles of lean start, long life, and circularity. A delicately robust bridge archetype that is systematically conceived and made: beautiful, long-lasting, quick to build, economical, with low materials use, reclaimed where possible, low carbon, with high social and environmental benefits compared to traditional bridge forms. The bridge is designed to be manufactured, not simply constructed, as the product of a high-quality industrial process. This delivers predictable, repeatable, highly accurate and efficient manufacture and erection.”
Webb Yates Engineers: A prestressed stone bridge, with the internal tendon profile reflected in the treatment of the façade. A modern interpretation of the traditional stone bridge.
Webb Yates director Steve Webb said: “By their nature, infrastructure projects tend to consume huge volumes of concrete and steel, both significant contributors to global warming. This hasn’t always been the case. For millennia, bridges, tunnels and retaining walls were built with stone. This high strength, low carbon, durable material is ripe for rediscovery. How can the knowledge of today be used to reinvent stone for a low carbon future? Our bridge suggests just one possible direction.”
National Highways is responsible for more than 600 footbridges in England, with 176 of them in the southeast. The proposed new footbridge across the A127 will restore pedestrian access between Moor Lane and Folkes Lane near Upminster, which was severed when the road was opened in 1924.
Lower Thames Crossing programme director Shaun Pidcock said: “The Lower Thames Crossing is green by design, so it was pleasing that we received so many high quality entries for a low-carbon footbridge of the future, the perfect complement to the scheme. The five shortlisted entries all plan to utilise new low-carbon materials, and I look forward to seeing how the designs develop and the eventual winner being selected.”
The secretary of state for transport recently announced that the deadline for a decision on the Lower Thames Crossing’s planning application has been deferred until 23rd May 2025. If the project is granted planning permission and the £9bn funding required, construction is expected to take six-years, with road opening targeted for 2032.
