The project team putting the finishing touches to Sunderland’s Northern Spire Bridge received a royal boost yesterday when the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge paid a visit to the construction site.
Donning hard hats and high-vis vests, their Royal Highnesses William and Catherine were introduced to Roughan & O'Donovan's Director, Tony Dempsey, who explained how the statement bridge was designed.
Commenting on their meeting, Dempsey said:
It was a pleasure to meet the Duchess of Cambridge. She was greatly impressed by the design and slenderness of the bridge and very keen to understand the design process.
Following their conversation, the Duke and Duchess were asked to screw in one of the final bolts into the bridge’s parapets. The task caused Prince William to nervously joke:
Is this a key bit? What happens if it doesn’t tighten properly?
The multimillion-pound bridge is the biggest civil engineering project in England in recent years and is on track to open later this spring. On completion, around 2,000 people will have worked on the project over about 900,000 man-hours.
Roughan & O’Donovan, together with their joint venture partner BuroHappold, has been providing consultancy services - from tender through to completion of construction - for the permanent works structures on this large-scale infrastructure design and build scheme.
Watch a video of the construction team completing this amazing piece of engineering.
