Buro Happold and architects Broadway Malyan were appointed by Thorne and Moorends Regeneration to lead a design team to build a new pedestrian bridge over the Stainforth and Keadby Canal in Thorne, South Yorkshire. The bridge links two sides of the community in Thorne; until then pedestrians and cyclists had to cross the canal using the busy A614 flyover.

Footbridges can have a major impact on the urban landscape due to their high visibility and frequent use. Thorne’s 16m moveable bridge combines mechanical and operational efficiency with a contemporary look that blends in unobtrusively with its waterfront surroundings. It is an assymetric swing bridge of novel design: the bridge is rotated around a single pivot point by a simple hydraulic mechanism, with a counterbalance arrangement that minimises the mechanical effort required.