03 February 2019

Separated at birth?

Glasgow City Council has published the design for a new bridge across the River Clyde connecting Govan and Partick, next to the Riverside Museum. The bridge is to be 110m long, with an opening span of 63m, and a swing bridge has been chosen so that the bridge can operate in high winds.

The bridge has been designed by CH2M Hill (now part of Jacobs), who in their previous incarnation Halcrow have previously delivered quite a few Clyde crossings. It's expected that a planning application will be made this summer, with the intention to complete construction in 2021.

The budget has been previously stated as £10m, but I don't know if that's accurate.

So ... spot the difference.



The top picture is the new Govan-Partick bridge. I'm sure any similarity to the Puente de la Mujer in Buenos Aires, shown in the second picture, is entirely coincidental.

I was especially amused to see that the artist tasked with visualising Glasgow's new design adhered so slavishly to their brief (presumably "copy this one please, pal") that they even included a sailing ship.

Or maybe this was their source material:


That one, of course, is in Dublin, and does at least have some back-stays unlike the Buenos Aires span or its Glaswegian clone. What is it about these bridges and sailing ships, anyway?

I don't think there's anything else I really want to say about the Govan-Partick bridge right now, so here are some more visualisations, and a rendered video:



5 comments:

Unknown said...

At the end of the Day the cost may be closer to 15 MM

Anonymous said...

Th previous cable stayed proposal seems much more attractive and original

Anonymous said...

There's tall ship in the visualisations because there is a tall ship moored adjacent to the Riverside Museum.

Anonymous said...

Just glad the designers choose a form of structure that builds upon the good architecture of the building behind.

Anonymous said...

Identical when viewed from one viewpoint but completely different from another with Govan Partick pylon forming a gateway. Form follows function?