City river footbridge to be lifted into place after year of delays

The five frames that make up the hub section of the bridge will be arriving by lorry from a factory in South Yorkshire, with the first two expected to be lifted into place by crane today or tomorrow.

Development of the £7.5m swing bridge, based on a concept by award-winning architects McDowell and Benedetti, had been threatened under the £40m of savings demanded of the regional development agency, Yorkshire Forward, by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

But the project was spared the axe, although £400,000 of the funding was delayed until the start of this financial year.

It will be the first bridge in the UK that people will be allowed to stand on as it is being rotated.

“There are five frames that make the hub section of the bridge and we will be delivering them over the next two to three days,” said project manager Keith Hibbert, from Barnsley-based Qualter Hall.

“They are going to come by lorry and we are going to be lifting them from the east bank over to the west side. The first lifts should take place today if not tomorrow but that depends on the crane which is just being repaired.

“The fifth frame is a wide load and that is scheduled to arrive on Friday. It may not be lifted till Sunday as it needs a bigger crane that is coming from Scotland.

“The last two pieces which form the walkway section of the bridge will be lifted at the beginning of next week. The outer walkway section will be bolted onto the central hub frame.”

The Barnsley-based company has built bridges in Gloucester and in Ireland. They have also sent bridges to Bangladesh and are currently working on a bridge for Belize.

The bridge due to be completed in October or November, is supposed to have been sculpted to represent the form of a whale looked at from the side, with a fin on the top and another two at the very tip, which enclose gates that shut when the bridge is about to move.

The structure includes a circular structure with a glass frontage, which is earmarked as a bistro.

Originally the bridge was to be used to link the west bank of the river with the east where the £100m Boom development, which included apartments, offices, shops, restaurants, was to be built. But since the project’s demise, there have been questions that it will become a “bridge to nowhere”.

Coun Martin Mancey, who holds the transport portfolio at the city council, admitted that was a concern, but said: “It is a shame that obviously with the credit crunch the development on the east bank of the river hasn’t progressed as was envisaged at the time, but hopefully it will be a real asset once the economy starts to grow again.”

Asked about the bridge’s £80,000 running costs, which the council will have to shoulder, he added: “The running costs of Hull’s transport infrastructure are under pressure because of budget cuts to local government.

“Having said that once you’ve started a project like this you have to see it through. I would far rather see it completed and in operation rather than left like the redundant one in Wincolmlee.”

The approach from the west will be through a landscaped area, past the gable end of a building which will have a large steel trellis fixed to it up which plants will grow.

There will be bronze scripts from scripts in the floor itself with nautical themes, benches and eye-catching lighting displays. Artist Nayan Kulkarni is behind an innovative sound display, with hidden speakers below new benches on the approach projecting recordings of water to create a “virtual riverscape.”

London-based architects McDowell & Benedetti have already scooped numerous plaudits for another Yorkshire bridge – the £4.8m footbridge in Castleford.