As lead designers on the £8 million Salford Greengate regeneration project, landscape architects Grontmij collaborated with specialist engineers Arup to deliver the bespoke pedestrian bridge over the River Irwell.
The multi-disciplinary team has been working closely with Salford City Council to create the unique 43m slender steel that will unite the two cities both physically and symbolically.
The new linear pedestrian bridge leads visitors through a two hectare public space at the centre of the wider, £450 million Greengate rejuvenation scheme. Pollarded Willow tree beds have been planted in gardens alongside the bridge landing to resonate the historic significance of the site and origin of the City of Salford’s name.
Special attention has been given to the lighting to ensure it complements and transforms the pedestrian bridge and public realm at night. It includes a continuous LED lighting feature that washes light across the glass balustrades and flexible LED strips which backlight the waters edge to provide a safe and visually stimulating pedestrian route throughout the scheme.
Danny Crump, senior associate from Grontmij, explains: “The team wanted to design a pedestrian bridge that was elegant and generated a strong visual impact but also provided a powerful and symbolic feature uniting the two cities.
“Grontmij’s landscape architects worked closely with Arup to design a bridge that is not only a beautiful and distinctive piece of design, but is an innovative and intelligent piece of engineering.”
Tim Taylor, bridge designer from Arup, comments: “Since inception, our aspiration has been to refine the footbridge concept into a design that fulfils all visual aspirations of the wider project, and is also sincere in physique. The creation is an amalgamation of complex but discreet geometrical features which form a graceful structure that sweeps across the river, drawing people into the new development”.
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About Grontmij
Grontmij, formerly Whitelaw Turkington, is one of the Europe’s leading firms of landscape architects and urban designers, creating public realm environments which are a synthesis of art, environment and engineering and attracting the most talented people who are passionate about place making and care about people.
The group has more than 100 landscape architects and urban designers working across the international network of offices, delivering successful projects for all our clients. The team specialises in award-winning landscape master planning, environmental impact assessment and scheme design for major projects in commercial and residential development, education, healthcare and leisure. Community engagement and multi-disciplinary collaboration are at the heart of the practice.
Grontmij is a leading sustainable design, engineering and management consultancy active in the growth markets of water, energy, transportation and sustainable planning and design. At the core of our business is the principle of sustainability by design that is a leading value proposition for our customers. Grontmij is the fourth largest engineering consultancy in Europe with almost 300 offices across the region and a further 50 offices globally. We have nearly 11,000 professionals around the world.
About Arup
Arup is the creative force behind many of the world’s prominent building, infrastructure and industrial projects. We offer a broad range of professional services that combine to make a positive difference to our clients and the communities in which we work. We are truly global. From 90 offices in 35 countries our 10000 planners, designers, engineers and consultants deliver work across the world with flair and enthusiasm.
Founded in 1946 with an enduring set of values, our unique trust ownership fosters a distinctive culture, an intellectual independence and encourages truly collaborative working. This is reflected in everything we do, allowing us to contribute meaningful ideas, help shape agendas, and deliver results that frequently surpass the expectations of our clients. We passionately strive to find a better way, to imagine and shape ideas and to deliver better solutions for our clients. We shape a better world.