Waterside Bridge over the Trent: design and active travel notes for engineers
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
Waterside Bridge, an 87-metre-long, 160-tonne steel walking and cycling structure over the River Trent, has opened to connect Victoria Embankment with Colwick Park and unlock Nottingham’s 250-acre Waterside Regeneration Zone. Fabricated in British steel by Britons Ltd in Hucknall and delivered by Balfour Beatty with Ramboll and multi-disciplinary consultant Pick Everard under the SCAPE Consultancy framework, it is the first new Trent crossing since the 1950s. The scheme completes Nottingham City Council’s £160m Transforming Cities Fund programme, prioritising active travel links to major sports and residential areas.
Technical Brief
- Multi-disciplinary consultant Pick Everard provided project management, cost management and health and safety oversight.
- Appointment was via Perfect Circle under the SCAPE Consultancy framework, standardising procurement and governance.
- Partners included Ramboll, Britons, Canal & River Trust, Environment Agency and cycling group Pedals.
- Stakeholder group also covered developer Blueprint, legal firm Geldards and Active Travel England as technical advisor.
- Department for Transport acted as principal funder through the Transforming Cities Fund allocation.
- Waterside Bridge is identified as core enabling infrastructure for redeveloping 250 acres of former industrial land.
- Completion of this bridge closes out Nottingham City Council’s £160m Transforming Cities Fund investment programme.
Our Take
Balfour Beatty’s role on the 87m Waterside Bridge follows its recent appointment to National Grid’s £1.2bn Electricity Transmission Partnership, signalling that the contractor is leveraging major national frameworks while still competing for city-scale active travel schemes in the UK.
With Pick Everard already embedded as a sustainability adviser to the University of Birmingham, its involvement in Nottingham’s Waterside Regeneration Zone suggests local authorities are favouring consultancies that can demonstrate campus- and city-wide decarbonisation experience across multiple clients.
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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