Active travel project of the year

This award recognises a new build or major refurbishment of a UK bridge used by pedestrians, as part of a cycle route or as a bridleway in the last year !

Aecom, Bam Nutall & Durham County Council
A19/A182 Footbridge  

Cold Hesledon bridge has provided a much-improved active travel route through the rural and coastal areas of Durham, providing improved access to key destinations by sustainable travel modes. The size and location of the proposed 70m span structure posed significant physical, programme and financial challenges but the collaborative relationships fostered through the project, resulted in an efficient, robust and effective solution. The project demonstrates design and construction excellence through its innovative approach to engineering challenges, concept development, strategic planning and collaboration across all teams, culminating in the precise execution and successful completion and opening of the active mode bridge.

CPE Consultancy, Jacobs, Scottish Borders Council, Briton Fabricators & Inertia Consulting
Hawick Active Travel Footbridge

Mansfield Park Footbridge emerged from collaborative working with multi-organisation involvement, alongside local community and funding partners: delivering a locally desired new connection across the River Teviot, to improve accessibility in Hawick. This footbridge and the enhanced landscaping around it create a sense of place, forming part of the shared-use cycleway that make-up the new path network, providing links to the Burnfoot SIMD community. Concurrently developed with Hawick Flood Protection Scheme, significant cost and efficiency savings were realised. HFPS, has created a positive effect both locally and beyond, linking walker, cyclist and horse-rider routes, shaping outdoor leisure space and sustainable connectivity.

Grid Architects
Brentford Lock West Bridge

Brentford Lock West Bridge by GRID Architects and Hewson Consulting for MUSE for Canals & Riverside Trust is a beautiful piece of engineering and architecture that celebrates the canal’s rich industrial heritage. It engages all users who walk and cycle across it, and under it too! The bridge has transformed the area by bringing together two communities on either side of the canal, alongside providing access to an otherwise unreachable public space. Importantly, accessibility to and from Brentford Station has been significantly improved, while delivering a key part of Hounslow aspirations for active travel routes along and over the canal.

Jacobs, Alun Griffiths Contractors, Moxon Architects & Worcestershire County Council
Kepax Footbridge

Taking its name from a 19th-century ferry, Kepax bridge completes Worcester’s triumvirate of active travel crossings over the River Severn. Reflecting the council’s ambition to improve connectivity between the city’s core, residential areas, river and green corridor, the bridge continues a tradition of landmark civic infrastructure in the river valley. It will accommodate commuters, visitors, and leisure users throughout the seasons in this flood prone setting.

JP Chick & Partners
Fishing Lodge Footbridge, Food Museum, Stowmarket, Suffolk  

This bridge achieves a lot with a little, embodying the principle of Less Is More. Its structural composition and materials used sit comfortably in the site landscape and give the impression that the bridge has always been there and is meant to be there. The design is a happy marriage of architect and engineer input, ensuring that the least material was used, that splices were carefully positioned and hidden, and that visible joints and junctions were attractive as well as functional. The contractor excelled in trial assembly and ultimate erection on this challenging site.

Perth and Kinross Council
Cross Tay Link Road

The Highfield Green Bridge blends into the surrounding landscape and sits above the New Kingsway. It successfully delivers the active travel and wildlife connection through Highfield woods. The bridge features two of the Community Artwork commissioned projects; the living bench which sits atop the bridge, and the ‘seasons’ mural on the underside of it and creates a wonderful visual for all road users. The design, delivery and promotion of Highfield Green Bridge demonstrates what can be achieved when construction works collaboratively with communities to create a legacy project that everyone involved in can feel very proud. 

Whitby Wood
Rafter Walk, Canada Dock

Rafter Walk, the dramatic red 170m-long boardwalk at Canada Dock is inspired by the area’s role at the heart of the timber trade during the 19th and 20th centuries. The bridge was envisioned as a place of public connection and reflection for the Canada Water community that links pedestrian routes through the site with local transport and the rewilded wetland habitat. Its gently undulating design uses thick galvanised steel and carefully sourced tropical hardwood sourced for its durability. The elevated structure appears to ‘float on the water’s surface’, offering unique views and bringing people down to experience nature up close.