16 November 2001
Opening of the Novi Sad Friendship Bridge, Norwich
The Novi Sad Friendship Bridge in Norwich has been formally opened by His Excellency the Yugoslav Ambassador. This elegant footbridge, prominently located in the City centre, is named in recognition of the twinning ties between Norwich and the Yugoslav City of Novi Sad. The swing bridge, which links King Street to the Riverside Development across the River Wensum, is part of a Norwich City Council scheme to regenerate the East Norwich area.
The opening swing bridge’s moving deck is 34 metres long, with 23 metres of length passing over the river and a further 11 metres over the riverside walk. The 4.5 metre wide deck is marked out with a central cycle lane and pedestrian routes either side. The bridge rotates on a turntable housed in a large steel shroud, which also contains the electrical and mechanical mechanisms. Once activated, the bridge will open or close in tow minutes. A hybrid fan/harp arrangement of cable stays supports the lightweight steel swinging span, which is also counterbalanced by kentledge. The bridge rotates about the central pier where a pair of 17 metres high steel masts support the stays. Constructed entirely from steel, the bridge weighs 85 tonnes.
The bridge will form an important additional link for pedestrians and cyclists within Norwich and has been designed to enhance the amenity of the riverside area whilst respecting the environmental sensitivity of the site. Based on the average high water spring tide, the bridge will allow boats of up to 4.4 metres in height to pass underneath without having to swing.
The design team was lead by Norfolk County Council, Planning and Transportation Department and included Ronald Yee as Architect, Buro Happold as superstructure designer and Mott Macdonald as M and E consultant. Construction was undertaken by May Gurney Construction, and was completed in nine months. Work on site first began in March 2001, when foundations for the bridge turntable were constructed first on an area partially built out into the river bed. Fabrication of the steel structure of the bridge took place in Sheffield, and sections of the bridge were delivered to site in August and September 2001, with the 34 metre deck arriving in four pieces and the shroud in two pieces. The pieces were positioned and welded on site, allowing testing of the bridge to take place in October 2001.
The project was funded from the Government’s Single Regeneration Budget, managed by the East of England Development Agency, with Norwich City Council as the client authority. The approximate construction cost was £800,000.
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Buro Happold is a multi-disciplinary international practice of consulting engineers established in 1976 offering civil and structural engineering, mechanical and electrical engineering, quantity surveying, building services and environmental engineering, infrastructure and traffic engineering, geotechnical engineering, façade engineering, fire engineering, Computational Fluid Dynamics analysis, access consultancy, project management, urban design and a range of specialist CAD services.
