350-tonne bridge installed in 12 hours on Christmas day

A new bridge in Stratford has been installed by Graham and Mace.

The job involved the design, fabrication and installation of a steel footbridge, which has been designed by Arquitecturia.

It connects International Quarter London, the Olympic park’s new business district, with East Bank, the £1.1bn cultural district currently under construction.

The installation marks a major landmark for the East Bank project.

Work to rotate the 66m long, 7.2m wide bridge into position began at 3.30am on Christmas day to avoid disrupting five rail lines operating below.

The 350-tonne steel bridge was jacked 9m before being carried on self-propelled modular transporters along Carpenters Road to the installation site.

The bridge was then lowered into position across the road and rail lines, with installation finished shortly after the Queen’s speech at 3.30pm.

Draining, earthing and waterproofing works will now be undertaken, with the bridge set to be completed for spring 2020.