Replacement of Temple Mills Bridge, Hackney

Background Temple Mills Bridge was constructed circa 1963 and carried the A106 over the River Lea, it is located a stones throw from the proposed 2012 Olympic Park in Stratford, London. Inadequate waterproofing, seizure of the bridge bearings and long term concerns over structural behaviour led the Client to the conclusion that it was uneconomic to repair the bridge and it should be replaced. The Client awarded a design and build contract for the and integral over new intermediate piers replacement bridge to Contractor Norwest and supported on laminate rubber bearings Holst in February 2004. Mouchel Parkman at the abutments. The structure was was appointed as the Contractor’s analysed using a 3D space frame (as Designer. shown below) using the LUSAS software.

The Challenge Key facts The Environment Agency demanded that Client:: London Borough of Hackney the replacement structure should be 500mm higher than the existing bridge to Contractor: Norwest Holst improve the hydraulic capacity and provide Scheme value: £2 million a 1:100 year flood event plus 20% to allow Date of completion: June 2006 for sea level rise resulting from global warming. The River Lea is tidal at the bridge location. Signalised junctions and slip roads onto the A12 adjacent to the bridge meant that the length of tie-ins to the existing bridge had to be minimised to avoid costly junction reconstruction. The need to keep two lanes of traffic flowing in both directions meant that the bridge had to be built in two halves.

The Solution The solution proposed and developed by Mouchel Parkman was to keep the five span configuration and re-use the existing piled foundations and abutment supports to minimise the depth of the deck. This re-use of the existing foundations resulted in a cost saving of approximately £600,000 on the construction price. An infilled precast, prestressed concrete deck was adopted for replacement bridge deck, continuous