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TRANSPORT/INFRASTRUCTURE
Hungerford Bridges, UK
SPECTACULAR LONDON LANDMARK
Client:
Westminster City Council on behalf of the Cross River Partnership
Project team:
Architect: Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands
Cost consultant: Davis Langdon
Contractor: Costain Norwest Holst joint venture
Contractor’s designer: Gifford
Project value:
£45M
WSP services:
Structural engineering
Civil engineering
Project management
Site supervision
Electrical engineering
Geotechnical engineering
Environmental impact assessment
WSP has played a leading role in the transformation of one of
London’s ugliest eyesores into a spectacular new landmark.The
beautiful new Hungerford footbridges across the River Thames have
become the preferred crossing for commuters and visitors alike, with
the capacity to carry some seven million pedestrians across the river
each year.
The footbridges replace a narrow, noisy and dirty footpath built
in 1863 alongside the railway bridge running into the new Charing
Cross Station. In 1996,Westminster City Council held an
international competition to design an improved river crossing to
provide access between the South Bank and Westminster for able
bodied and mobility impaired pedestrians.The consortium of WSP,
architects Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands and cost consultants Davis
Langdon won the competition with a design for two footbridges on
either side of Charing Cross railway bridge.
The bridges span a busy waterway and a main road and are
positioned next to a main line railway and close to two underground
railway tunnels and a telecoms tunnel.They are suspended from
outward-leaning, tapered steel pylons supported by multiple cables
and held at the correct inclination using further cables and steel
frames. Lifts installed at each end of the bridges provide access
for mobility impaired people.
WSP is proud of its contribution in the creation of a new and highly
acclaimed London attraction.The Hungerford footbridges have
opened up new views of the London Eye, the Houses of Parliament
and St Paul’s Cathedral, to the delight of both Londoners and visitors
to the capital.The many awards from organisations including the
Institution of Structural Engineers, the Civic Trust and the
Westminster Society are testimony to the power of partnership
working and the commitment and close working relationships
of all members of the design team.
“While the bridge is now one of London’s newest
treasures, its construction is testimony to the power of
partnership working – overcoming hurdles which could
have defeated a less committed group of partners.”
Cross River Partnership