This pedestrian link bridge at the Queen Alexandra Hospital is part of a major PFI redevelopment scheme designed to enhance the delivery of patient care to the local community in Portsmouth. 

The bridge connects the hospital with the new Pathology Block located 60m away. Following a structural assessment, the proposed bridge was split into two separate structures to avoid excessive loading on the existing building. Buro Happold’s bridges group developed a concept design, prepared detailed construction drawings and assisted the contractors throughout the fabrication and installation phases.

There were also some challenging site constraints during the course of the project; for example, the intermediate support, which is subject to high impact loads, is located in close proximity to an underground duct which feeds numerous services vital to the hospital. Careful foundation design and co-operation with the contractors allowed pile installation to proceed without major problems.