Sunderland bridge centrepiece to be lifted into place

The centre piece of Sunderland’s new £117M bridge will be raised into position in engineering spectacle.

The centrepiece of Sunderland’s new bridge arrived at its final location earlier this month after being transported onto the construction site in the middle of the River Wear. It is now ready to be lifted into position.

In what has been described as an engineering spectacle, the impressive 100m pylon – is expected to be raised into position in the coming two weeks.It is most likely to take place during the week commencing Monday, January 30, but could possibly be the following week of February 6, depending on weather conditions.

Weighing 1550-tonne, the tower will be raised at the site of the city’s new bridge over the river, during a carefully planned operation that is expected to take up to 24 hours to complete.

Works have been taking place this week to rotate the pylon into position, and now work is underway to attach the pylon to foundations that have been built into the riverbed to support it.

Nothing of this scale has been lifted in this way since the London Eye was raised in 1999.

The New Wear Crossing is being built on behalf of Sunderland City Council by Farrans Construction and Victor Buyck Steel Construction, which have formed FVB Joint Venture.

Once raised into position, the team will spend several weeks securing the pylon to the foundations in preparation for the next section of the bridge deck to be pulled out across the river in Spring.

The bridge is set to be completed by 2018.

By creating a link between Castletown to the north of the River Wear with Pallion in the south, it will significantly improve important transport links to the city centre and the Port of Sunderland, open up land for regeneration and attract investment into the city.

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