Skip to main content

Cofferdams completed for Sunderland city’s New Wear River Crossing

In the UK, foundation work for Sunderland city’s new bridge is about to start as the huge cofferdam in the middle of the River Wear nears completion. Water has been drained out of the cofferdam, a large steel watertight structure within the river, to allow the building of pylons for the bridge deck. It is the first bridge to be built over the Wear in Sunderland for more than 40 years and is part of the wider strategic transport plan to link the Port of Sunderland and city centre with the A19 road.
May 25, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Cofferdam construction to allow work on main pylon foundations
In the UK, foundation work for Sunderland city’s new bridge is about to start as the huge cofferdam in the middle of the River Wear nears completion.

Water has been drained out of the cofferdam, a large steel watertight structure within the river, to allow the building of pylons for the bridge deck.

It is the first bridge to be built over the Wear in Sunderland for more than 40 years and is part of the wider strategic transport plan to link the Port of Sunderland and city centre with the A19 road.

Before the end of the year, a 105m A-frame pylon will be floated from Belgium on a giant barge before being slowly hoisted into position on the river. It will take several hours to raise the pylon and secure it.

Stephen McCaffrey, project director for FVB joint venture, created by 1622 Farrans Construction and Victor Buyck Steel Construction, said the positioning of the pylon will be “a very complex project” and “not straightforward”.

Farrans Construction is a building and civil engineering contractor across the UK and Ireland. Victor Buyck is based in Belgium and specialises in major structural steelwork, especially steel bridges. The FVB joint venture is supported by their design team led by Buro Happold Engineering and Roughan & O'Donovan.

Sunderland City Council is holding a two-phase consultation to find a name for the new bridge.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Ambitious road tunnelling projects around the world
    November 29, 2013
    The construction of the world’s longest subsea road tunnel in Norway and a vital new link under the Bosphorus Strait in Turkey are among a host of exciting, major road tunnel-based projects currently being undertaken across the globe. Guy Woodford reports Sandvik DTi series tunnelling jumbos are being used for the excavation of Solbakktunnel, set to become the world’s longest subsea road tunnel.
  • Float positioning for Bandra Worli Bridges
    May 29, 2024
    In Mumbai, India, two steel bridges have been barged to site and then lifted into position as part of the Mumbai Coastal Road-Bandra Worli Sea Link project.
  • Italy’s renaissance bridge
    July 21, 2020
    Italian consulting company Italferr created a digital twin for designing the new Genoa bridge and won accolades at Bentley Systems: Bentley Year in Infrastructure Awards
  • Award winning bridge for North Carolina
    November 21, 2019
    A new bridge in the US state of North Carolina has won a key award for excellence – Mike Woof writes