The design vision of the BDP Manchester studio and its Transport Architect Director Peter Jenkins is being brought to life in the mammoth civil engineering rail project the Ordsall Chord.
Mr Jenkins’ unique flowing ribbon design for the viaduct is the first network arch bridge in the UK. The slender twin arches of the bridge are 89m long and weigh 600 tonnes.
The bridge includes a dip in the steelwork that the project team affectionately calls “the swoosh.” The hangers that hold the arch together are diagonal and cross each other at least twice. Once completed, the bridge will become the centrepiece of the Ordsall Chord, which when finished by December 2017, will provide new and direct links from the north to Manchester Airport, and help support Network Rail’s Great North Rail Project, part of the wider Railway Upgrade Plan.
It will link Manchester Piccadilly with Manchester Victoria (the latter recently re-designed by Mr Jenkins) for the first time and unlock new routes, improve connections and provide journey-times across the north of England.
The Ordsall Chord line is 300m of track and a series of new bridges and viaducts in the site of the first passenger station in the world, at Liverpool Road in Manchester. BDP has designed these structures in conjunction with engineers from Parsons Brinkerhoff, Aecom and Mott MacDonald.
BDP Manchester studio is designing all the major architectural and urban realm elements of the project, including the landscaping and lighting to the important public spaces and heritage features beneath the bridges and viaducts.
Peter Jenkins, the Ordsall Chord’s lead architect, said: “The BDP team has designed, with the engineers from WSP, Aecom and Mott Macdonald, an 89-metre single-span network arch bridge, the second-longest in the world to carry twin heavy-rail tracks. This design uses inclined hangers which cross each other at least twice instead of vertical hangers, which allows for a more elegant design that is thinner and uses less material. This is particularly important due to the proximity with Grade 1 and 2 listed buildings. The arches elegantly taper to a fine point towards their ends as they approach George Stephenson’s original 1830 bridge over the Irwell. I still have my original sketch of the bridge concept from when BDP started work on this exciting and challenging project over five years ago.
“It is therefore hugely satisfying to reach the dramatic moment of the bridge arches being lifted into place over the river. I’m very proud to have been part of the team who have designed, developed and constructed this massively significant project for Manchester and the north of England.”
Programme Manager Allan Parker from Network Rail said: “This latest piece of work signifies we are getting ever closer to the Ordsall Chord being completed. Once finished, passengers from across the north will have more direct services to Manchester Airport and a reduction in congestion due to some services from the east being rerouted through to Victoria station first. This will mean an increase in services as more trains will be able to run to Piccadilly.
“As you can imagine, the sheer size of the arches and the accuracy needed to position them meant there was a lot of planning that took place previously. I have been working on this project from the very beginning and I am extremely proud of every milestone we have achieved. However, the sight of the arches elevated over the River Irwell was very special and will live long in my memory.”
