Infrastructure
Intelligently designed infrastructure is a key component to creating sustainable communities and promoting healthier lifestyles
Our recent infrastructure projects range from pedestrian friendly streetscapes to projects such as the pedestrian and cycle bridges over the M5 in Exeter and the River Thames in Reading.
Bridges
The placement of a bridge has a much greater impact on the immediate environment than just its obvious presence as a man-made object
Bridges create strategic changes in patterns of movement, whether walking, cycling or driving. A clear understanding of the potential impact of these new pathways across a physical barrier such as a road, river or natural gap is key to success in how you experience the journey and the bridge itself. Intelligent integration of access ramps or how we use local topography to ensure the path across the bridge is seamless are key to successful bridges.
Coupled with this is the macro and micro level of the bridge as seen from a distance and experienced up close. The design of the structure can be significantly affected by the speed and angle at which it is experienced. Driving under our bridge on the M5 towards Exeter is a very different experience to floating on York Millennium Bridge at River Ouse!
Christchurch bridge is a stunning landmark structure for Reading and provides a vital new link across the Thames for pedestrians and cyclists coming to and from the town centre.
Councillor Tony Page, lead member for regeneration, planning and transport
We celebrate the memory and legacy of a place by re-imagining the spaces and unlocking their hidden potential
Many of our bridges have seating areas integrated into the structure, allowing people using the bridges to ‘pause for a moment’ as they transition from one place to another. The Slingshot bridge at the Oracle shopping centre in Reading and the York Millennium Bridge both have seating areas that extend continuously across the structure to provide a welcome resting place for users to relax and enjoy the views. On the Christchurch Bridge, Reading, the seat is connected to the point where the single structural mast penetrates the deck, offering people a place to pause and enjoy the unique perspective that the new bridge offers as it passes over the Thames.
Our design approach to bridges, like our work on buildings, is often influenced by art, poetry and metaphorical references that help the project become more than just the components, creating a structure that resonates with its users in different ways, depending on their personal life experiences.
All of the bridges we have designed are the result of an incredibly close relationship with the engineers who helped design them. They were born out of trust on both sides, so the bridges are efficient and beautiful while pushing the boundaries of the obvious.
Christchurch Bridge
An important new link for pedestrians and cyclists around Reading Town
Redhayes Pedestrian Bridge
A steel arch and a suspended landscape pathway, create a dramatic gateway
Roseville Masterplan
Set into a granite hillside overlooking the sea, this scheme is arranged on existing natural contours
