Gateshead Millenium Bridge, Gateshead

The brief was dominated by the requirement to retain a 30m-wide clear channel for shipping whilst maintaining a low-level crossing for pedestrians and cyclists, as well as addressing the importance of context in this place characterised by its bridges. The opening motion of the design is both its generator and its highlight. Bridges that open offer a spectacle, yet are rarely spectacular. This bridge in contrast has visual daring and elegance in its closed position, giving way to theatre and power in operation.

The idea is simple; a pair of arches, one forming the deck, the other supporting it, pivot around their common springing point to allow shipping to pass beneath. The motion is efficient and rational, yet dramatic beyond the capabilities of previously explored opening mechanisms. Two synchronised batteries of three hydraulic rams located in each end support provide motive power to the base of the arch, 4.5m below the bearing centreline. The whole bridge tilts, and as it does the entire composition undergoes a metamorphosis into a ‘grand arch’ of great width and grace, in an operation which evokes the action of a closed eye slowly opening.