Poole Bridge
In 2002, the Borough of Poole ran a design competition to select a new moving swing bridge to open up valuable development land to the West of Poole bay. From over forty applications, a small number were selected to submit initial ideas.
KGAL was part of a consortium that included McDowell & Benedetti as architects and Arup as bridge engineers. The Client's brief was to design a landmark bridge that would become associated with Poole. After further consideration, the consortium was one of two selected to be paid to develop an outline design.
The design chosen was for a novel form of rolling bascule bridge.
The swing bridge is operated via two sets of hydrostatic motor driven carriages that grip the curved main beams to runways along the outside of the bridge approach. KGAL undertook the outline calculations and engineering development to prove that the swing bridge would perform to the specification and that all parts would last their design lives and allow routine maintenance.
The control system included local and remote means of operation with SCADA links to the Councils offices.
The design development result is illustrated in the artist's impression above.
CLIENT: Borough of Poole
LEAD CONSULTANT: Arup
ARCHITECT: McDowell & Benedetti | 
