Footbridge of the future? Lower Thames Crossing reveals shortlisted designs for low-carbon footbridge contest
Footbridge of the future? Lower Thames Crossing reveals shortlisted designs for low-carbon footbridge contest
The future of the humble footbridge came a step closer today (Thursday, 5 December), as the Lower Thames Crossing project unveiled the five designs that have been shortlisted for its low-carbonfootbridge contest.
Launched in July, the contest is seeking innovative, sustainable designs for a crossing over the A127, a key strategic road connecting Southend and London, and located close to the northern end of the Lower Thames Crossing. The winning design could also form the new footbridge standard and be replicated across roads country wide.
Over 30 entrants were received and assessed anonymously, and judged on their proposed use of low carbon materials and construction methods, and evidence of good design principles to allow ease of access and a pleasant crossing experience.
The winning design is due to be announced in late Spring 2025.
The five shortlisted entries are:
Arup and Sean Harrington Associates: A two-span bridge with twin haunched glulam girders, with an all-steel central pier and steep reinforced earth embankments for the approaches.
Martin Hooton, Associate Director, Arup said:
“Our collaborative team from Arup and Seán Harrington Architects is proud to have been shortlisted. This competition provided us with a valuable platform to explore innovative solutions focused on minimising carbon emissions for National Highways. Our innovative approach reimagines a range of low carbon strategies with the outcome of low carbon and a realistic opportunity for re-use at the end of life. This achievement highlights what can be realised when sustainability, efficiency and elegance are at the forefront of design.”
COWI and Moxon: A slender timber bridge supported on a V-shape stainless steel pier, minimising span lengths for an efficient low carbon solution.
Ben Curry, Project Director, COWI said:
“This competition has been a unique and enjoyable opportunity to bring some genuine innovation into highway overbridge design. The COWI-Moxon team has a strong track record with low-carbon bridge design, and we’re pleased to see the Lower Thames Crossing putting carbon front and centre as a main judging criterion. We’re delighted to have reached the final five and, irrespective of the result, hope this competition will be a catalyst for the next generation of super-low-carbon bridges.”
Davies Maguire Ltd A timber bridge with twin haunched girders, an inclined steel prop as the main pier and stone columns for the approach piers.
George Fletcher, Bridge Engineer, Davies Maguire said:
“The Davies Maguire entry offers an innovative, modern approach to timber bridge design and construction. The longevity of timber, when used correctly, is proven by centuries-old timber bridges across Europe. These historical examples often feature covered and enclosed designs, protecting the supporting structure from weather and other environmental factors. We propose to utilise emerging technological innovations, particularly in advanced timber construction and pre-stressed stone, and combine this with a creativity and sensitivity toward the landscape, site, materials and the end users. Providing adequate protection through ingenuity of detailing, we will present an exemplary, long-lasting, and sustainable structure for the future.”
Useful Studio Architects and Expedition Engineering: A modular truss bridge designed on the basis of regeneration and circularity, re-using steel materials and adopting an industrial process for repeatability and efficiency.
Catherine Ramsden, Useful Studio said:
“We propose an elegant bridge designed using the regenerative principles of lean start, long life, and circularity. A delicately robust bridge archetype that is systematically conceived and made: beautiful, long-lasting, quick to build, economical, with low materials use, reclaimed where possible, low carbon, with high social and environmental benefits compared to traditional bridge forms. The bridge is designed to be manufactured, not simply constructed, as the product of a high-quality industrial process. This delivers predictable, repeatable, highly accurate and efficient manufacture and erection. We are sensitive participants in a much wider system: delivering social and ecological benefit beyond the boundaries of the project.”
Webb Yates Engineers: A prestressed stone bridge, with the internal tendon profile reflected in the treatment of the façade. A modern interpretation of the traditional stone bridge.
Steve Webb, Director, Webb Yates said:
“By their nature, infrastructure projects tend to consume huge volumes of concrete and steel, both significant contributors to global warming. This hasn’t always been the case. For millennia, bridges, tunnels and retaining walls were built with stone. This high strength, low carbon, durable material is ripe for rediscovery. How can the knowledge of today be used to reinvent stone for a low carbon future? Our bridge suggests just one possible direction.”
National Highways is responsible for more than 600 footbridges in England, with 176 of them in the south east. The proposed new footbridge across the A127 will encourage healthy active travel as it restores pedestrian access between Moor Lane and Folkes Lane, which was severed when the road was opened in 1924. It will offer the local community an uninterrupted route between local green spaces such as Thames Chase Forest Centre, Folkes Lane Wood, and Hole Farm Community Woodland, the new 100-hectare woodland being created in partnership between the Lower Thames Crossing and Forestry England.
“The Lower Thames Crossing is green by design, so it was pleasing that we received so many high quality entries for a low-carbon footbridge of the future, the perfect complement to the scheme. The five shortlisted entries all plan to utilise new low-carbon materials, and I look forward to seeing how the designs develop and the eventual winner being selected”.
The Lower Thames Crossing is a proposed new road and tunnel connecting Kent and Essex that will tackle congestion on the Dartford Crossing and create a reliable new connection between the north, the midlands and the ports of the south-east.
As a carbon pathfinder project, the Lower Thames Crossing is aiming to reduce its predicted carbon emissions and set a new standard in the industry for low-carbon construction by scaling up the use of low-carbon construction methods and materials. It was the first project to make the limit legally binding by locking it into its application for planning consent.
Set to become the UK’s greenest road, the scheme will also encourage active travel as it creates almost 40 miles of new or enhanced pathways for walkers, cyclists and horseriders; two new public parks – Chalk Park and Tilbury Fields on either side of the Thames – and a new community woodland, Hole Farm near Brentwood, Essex.
If the project is granted planning permission and is funded, construction is expected to take six-years, with road opening targeted for 2032. The Secretary of State for Transport recently announced that the deadline for a decision on the Lower Thames Crossing’s planning application has been extended to 23 May 2025.
About National Highways
National Highways is the wholly government-owned company responsible for modernising, maintaining and operating England’s motorways and major A roads.
