Hampton Bridge lifted into place: design and floodplain lessons for engineers
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
The 210m Hampton Bridge over the River Avon at Evesham has had its 86.5m preassembled main river span lifted into place, forming the core of a new all-weather active travel route across the flood plain for Worcestershire County Council. The 3.5m-wide slender steel structure, designed by Moxon Architects with Burroughs and COWI, uses paired V piers on the steep western bank, H-section columns on the eastern viaduct, and unpainted weathering steel to cut maintenance and minimise floodplain footprint. A 123.5m approach viaduct, raised causeway, drainage and landscaping are now under way, with completion due in 2027.
Technical Brief
- The 86.5m main river span was fully preassembled on temporary trestles within the flood plain.
- Paired V-shaped piers on the steep western bank cantilever the deck out over the river channel.
- A separate river-access stair span ties into the deck where it threads through mature riverside trees.
- Simple H-section steel columns support the eastern approach viaduct, limiting obstruction and foundation footprint in the floodplain.
- Unpainted weathering steel was selected to avoid coating systems, reduce maintenance interventions and lower whole-life carbon.
- Ongoing works include raised causeway construction, railings, lighting, drainage infrastructure, landscaping and tie-in footways to the local network.
Our Take
Within our 901-item Infrastructure set, Hampton Bridge stands out as one of the longer UK pedestrian/cycle crossings, and its 210 m alignment over the Evesham flood plain signals a design bias towards maintaining flood storage and conveyance rather than relying on heavy embankment works.
The 86.5 m River Avon span combined with a 123.5 m viaduct implies relatively low approach gradients, which should improve accessibility and reduce approach earthworks volumes compared with shorter-span, higher-level options often seen in similar Worcestershire County Council schemes.
A 2027 completion horizon for Hampton Bridge means construction will overlap with several other UK local-authority-led bridge projects in our database, which typically tightens regional supply of specialist steelwork and lifting contractors and can affect procurement timing for designers such as Moxon Architects and engineers like COWI and Burroughs.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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