Project management for the Northern Spire Bridge, Sunderland

The Sunderland Strategic Transport Corridor is an ambitious five-phase strategy that seeks to link the main arterial routes of the A1 and A19 to the city centre and Port of Sunderland.

Once completed, the route will bring significant economic, regeneration and transport benefits to Sunderland and the North-East region of England. The overall duration of the programme is approximately 15 years, and work on Phase 1 completed in May 2015.

Phase 2 of the programme started in May 2015, with the project seeking to deliver the first new river crossing over the River Wear in 40 years in the form of an ambitious cable-stayed bridge linking Castletown to the north of the river with Pallion in the south.

The new Wear crossing bridge was designed by a joint venture between Buro Happold Engineering, UK and Roughan & O’Donovan, Republic of Ireland.

A joint venture between Farrans Construction, based in Northern Ireland and Victor Buyck Steel Construction, based in Belgium, was responsible for the design and overall construction, with Ramboll performing the role of Independent Cat 3 Checker.

AtkinsRéalis was responsible for managing the main contract on behalf of Sunderland City Council and the provision of site supervision and quality assurance services to the project, including the construction of the bridge and the associated approach roads which included approximately 3.2km of a new highway providing the connectivity between the existing road infrastructure and the new crossing.

A challenging project with a complex supply chain

Whilst our client has a dedicated bridges and structures team, the complexity of the bridge design and the unusual nature and sheer scale of the construction led them to seek a partner with broader experience and expertise to support the delivery of the project.

Additionally, the need to manage a complex supply chain and oversee the off-site construction works in Northern Ireland and Belgium necessitated the adoption of a flexible approach and the requirement to make frequent site visits internationally, in addition to overseeing the local delivery of the project.

Finally, the use of international expertise in the off-site construction raised challenges concerning compliance with health, environment and safety standards and the quality assurance roles in supporting the delivery of this iconic crossing.

Using our bridges expertise to deliver an iconic structure

The bridge construction comprised three spans, one of 40m and two of 148m each, creating a 336m deck, suspended on a single 105m tall pylon constructed from steel and concrete.

The suspension of the deck consists of 28 cable stays, each comprising an outer sheath and containing a collection of wire strands that collectively make up an individual cable.

Each cable contains between 44 and 77 individual strands, varying in length from 52m to 165m, the cables are anchored into the central pylon and the outer sides of the bridge deck.

With such a large supply chain, our role involved the overall project management and supervision of on-site activities and provision of highways supervision, to oversee the delivery of the construction of 2.5km of new dual carriageway and 750m of new single lane carriageway in addition to work on approximately 2.5km of existing roads and highway.

The project required careful monitoring and control throughout in ensuring compliance with UK Health and Safety requirements and that all parties understood and adhered to their obligations. This was compounded with different contracts delivering highways works on either side of the river.

Monthly meetings and regular on-site checks were used to ensure compliance was maintained and that H&S and quality standards were being adhered to. Weekly programme scheduling events were also utilised to help ensure timely delivery of the various phases of work in addition to daily inspections to minimise disruption through unnecessary rework.

With several elements of the bridge construction being formed from off-site components, such as precast concrete decks and the iconic A-frame pylon; it required many visits to the overseas manufacturers to ensure the works were progressing on time and also to maintain high-quality standards. This also included inspection of welding and paintwork, with our expertise in these fields being utilised to ensure consistency of paint application and integrity of the welded joints.

The team were able to call on our bridges and structures expertise, which was essential given the size and scale of the project, drawing on wider knowledge built up from involvement in many large-scale bridge projects from across the world.

The insights from working on this project are being captured and used to draft guidance to inform future works of this nature.

Our involvement in the project continues to ensure the rectification of any snags or remedial works until the final handover at the end of August 2020.

Services provided

Programme and project management
Site supervision
Health and safety guidance
Quality management, assurance and inspections
Stakeholder engagement
Cost management
Public Liaison
Technical advice to the client
Contaminated land advice

Delivering better transport links and supporting local regeneration

The bridge was officially named as the Northern Spire Bridge in December 2017 and was made accessible to pedestrians and cycles in a special ceremony on 28 August 2018, before being opened to traffic for use on 29 August 2018.

The work on the Sunderland Strategic Transport Corridor continues with work on phase 3, building a dual carriageway linking the south end of the Northern Spire bridge with St Mary’s Way in the city centre currently being delivered.

Phase 4 will deliver improvements on Wessington Way, between A19 and the northern end of the new bridge, and Phase 5 will deliver improvements to routes into the Port of Sunderland as a part of future works.

Once the SSTC work is complete, it is expected to support increased activity in the Port of Sunderland, benefiting local manufacturers and businesses in addition to the local economy.

The completion of this key crossing has facilitated improved access to the south bank of the river which will, in turn, support the much-needed regeneration of the local area.

The bridge will help to relieve congestion locally by partially removing congestion from the Queen Alexandra Bridge.

It also provides improvements to the vital road transport links connecting the Port of Sunderland and Sunderland city centre with the A19 and A1.

Its presence will support the development of the IAMP Enterprise Zone and the wider Tyne and Wear city-region, all of which will help to attract increased investment into the area.

The final structure stands at twice the height of Nelson’s Column in London and is viewable from miles around, from both sides of the river and from the A19.

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Project management for the Northern Spire Bridge, Sunderland

Jim Kilcar

A challenging project with a complex supply chain

Using our bridges expertise to deliver an iconic structure

Services provided

Delivering better transport links and supporting local regeneration