Telford Central Footbridges
© Stuart Brown
These new footbridges provide a modern sleek welcome to visitors arriving from the railway station. Crossing busy roads and a railway line on a tight site presented major challenges, but disruption was kept to a minimum and the judges were impressed with the team’s efforts to engage and involve the public, resulting in a proud sense of ownership by the local community.
Architect
Nicoll Russell Studios
Structural Engineer
Jacobs
Steelwork Contractor
S H Structures Ltd
Main Contractor
Balfour Beatty
Client
Telford & Wrekin Council
Linking the railway station and town centre, a pair of new footbridges provide a unique ‘gateway’ to Telford.
The overhead structure of the tied arch/trusses allows the suspended deck to be extremely thin. Glazed sides and an internal GRP soffit complete the clean uncluttered feeling. A stretched tensile fabric roof covering tapers down to a fish tail detail at each end, giving the bridges their distinctive appearance.
A complex and challenging project built on a small and restricted site crossing an important rail link and two busy inner ring roads has delivered an outstanding piece of functional urban architecture.