SSDA 2018: Somers Town Bridge, London
15th November 2018
Crossing the Regents Canal in London, Somers Town Bridge meets the structural demands with the very minimum of materials.
As the SSDA awards celebrate their 50th year of recognising the best of what the UK steel construction industry can achieve, we celebrate that 77% of the projects feature STRUMIS customers. In this post we will be celebrating S H Structures Ltd.’s involvement in the Somers Town Bridge project.
Photo: © John Sturrock
Somers Town Bridge, London
Architect: Moxon Architects
Structural Engineer: Ove Arup & Partners Ltd
Steelwork Contractor: S H Structures Ltd
Client: King’s Cross Central Limited Partnership
Designed for cyclists and pedestrians to cross from Camley Street into King’s Cross Central, the Somers Town Bridge is a landmark redevelopment project.
It spans 38m, weighs 52t and it is only 1,100mm deep at mid-span and 400mm deep at the ends.
In keeping with the Victorian heritage of the area, the bridge is unadorned and streamlined, focusing attention on extremely detailed and precise craftsmanship and high-quality materials.
A sweeping ramp leads people up to the bridge and over the water with an elegant parapet transitioning from planed hardwood to stainless steel.
Every single element of the bridge is said to have a structural meaning and function. It was designed so no longitudinal stiffeners would be needed, simplifying the structure as well as reducing fabrication complexity and cost.
The curved plates connecting the web and deck plates are an example of design efficiency. The restraint that u-frame stiffeners provide to the top flanges in compression is significantly undermined by flexibility of the web-to-deck connection when, typically, both plates are connected with a sharp angle. Using curved plates eliminated this flexibility and increased the efficiency of the system.
In summary, the judges say a sweeping ramp leads up to this almost impossibly slender steel bridge. Designed for pedestrians and cyclists, the bridge improves access into King’s Cross Central, a landmark redevelopment project. The simplicity of its unadorned and streamlined form focuses attention onto the bridge’s high‐quality materials and precise craftsmanship.
To read the full article visit the NSC website https://bit.ly/2T8Ba1I