26 March 2002
Installation of footbridge crossing, River Bure, Wroxham
A new cable stayed footbridge crossing the River Bure at Wroxham in Norfolk was successfully lifted into place on Sunday 17 March. The project was managed by Norfolk County Council with Buro Happold appointed as consultant for the design of the steel structure.
The lift required a 500 Tonne crane to be positioned on the adjacent staithe to lift the 36 tonne deck, which then had to be fed through the steel A-frame mast of the structure. The frame was installed first followed by the deck together with all its services piping, balustrading and finishes.
The site is located in the middle of an important tourist area with restricted site access and both road and
river closures were required to install the bridge.
The new footbridge has been designed to carry all the utility apparatus presently attached to the old bailey bridge it replaces. The gas, water, sewerage, BT and electrical apparatus will all be carried in sleeves which pass through the diaphragms of the new bridge deck. The underside of the deck will be enclosed using GRP panels.
The design principle of the cable stayed bridge was to reduce the depth of the deck thus providing a visually light structure which would be less obstrusive to views of the historic road bridge running through Wroxham. The mast, cable arrangement and the colour scheme was chosen to give the bridge a nautical feel in harmony with the area.
The bridge was fabricated by Nusteel Ltd and the Principal Contractor is J.Breheny Ltd.
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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.
