Context

Finzels Reach is a £2.7m footbridge across Bristol’s floating harbour, which allows pedestrians and cyclists a route to the Finzels Reach development in the city.

The bespoke curved bridge has a span of 91m and is 4m wide and adds a new dimension to the Finzels Reach project.

The unusual sinuous shape of the bridge was designed to maximise the length of the structure - this allows the minimum gradient on the bridge from either side while maintaining the necessary clearance over the navigable section of the watercourse.

Work undertaken

CTS was approached directly by the client and architect to create a structural solution to their architectural concept.

The rising 'S' shape of the bridge brought about challenges during the design, modelling and cladding process of the project - the spiralling effect could be realised in manufacture but not fully realised in the model. Therefore careful detailing and consideration of each of the subsequent elements had to accommodate increased tolerance to account for and manage unknown offsets and interfaces for all parties.

The complex geometry posed challenges as the plan curvature generated a low natural frequency structure easily excited by joggers. CTS’s early involvement meant that vibration was identified at concept as being a critical design parameter.

Vibration specialist, Full Scale Dynamics, assisted with the design, manufacture and installation of a bespoke tuned mass damper to position in the longest most eccentric span to ensure comfort parameters were met for all bridge users.

The bridge combined:

  • painted steelwork
  • hardwood decking with anti-slip inserts (Hi-Grip Excel by CTS Bridges)
  • hardwood handrail with stainless steel parapet infill
  • lighting and cladding

The completed eye-catching superstructure was installed in time for the official bridge opening.