Contents
Background
Design/ Check: DCC Engineering Design Group
Contract: NEC 3 Option B
Project Management/ Supervision: DCC Engineering Design Group
Works Duration: 1 week
Year completed: 2021
Works value: £27,000
Stoke Meadow Close footbridge was a timber footbridge initially built around 1980.
It connects a housing estate to Mincinglake Valley Park – a protected area with abundant wildlife.
The timber deck was unfortunately rotting, so the footbridge was replaced in October 2021, and at the time it was EDG’s first bridge deck made entirely of moulded fibre-reinforced polymers (FRP).
What were the options?
If the bridge were replaced with a like-for-like timber design, it is estimated that it would need a full replacement in 20 years, as well as repairs before this.
We decided to experiment with a new innovation, fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) bridge decks. FRP has excellent corrosion and weather resistant properties, requires little maintenance, and is expected to last 100 years or more.
Who was involved?
The project was managed and supervised by a technician within the EDG bridges and structures design team.
The design was sub-contracted to an FRP specialist, due to it being the first time EDG have used the material.