Record-breaking concrete bridge for Lowestoft

A new concrete bridge, considered the largest single-leafed moveable bridge in the world, has been created in Lowestoft. CAPITAL Concrete and Brett Concrete worked with support from Brett Aggregates on the landmark project.

Capital Concrete worked closely with Brett Concrete, who helped produce the heavyweight material at the company's nearby Ipswich Central plant, and Brett Aggregates, who handled the transportation of aggregate materials to and around the plant.

Jack Sindhu, technical director at Capital Concrete, said: "Currently, Capital Concrete operate within the M25, however through great teamwork with Jim Farley, Scott McLellan, and the teams at Brett Concrete and Brett Aggregates, we have been able to deliver specialist materials to projects such as this from outside our trading area. We undertook several lab and site trials to produce a concrete mix with added aggregate materials to achieve the higher density needed for this project, as well as to make sure the mix remained workable for 4 hours once batched.

He continued: "The team at Capital Concrete did an excellent job in planning efficient routes, staying aware of traffic conditions and ensuring we had enough Capital Concrete trucks brought up from London in order to maintain a continuous flow of concrete to site."

The bridge is the third crossing over Lake Lothing in Lowestoft and will open using hydraulics that will lift and support the bridge’s main section while it ‘rolls’ on to its 386-tonne counterweights, allowing the safe passage of vessels. Due to its distance of 12m from the water below, the crossing will allow bigger vessels to pass beneath it without having to open, resulting in fewer traffic delays.

Capital Concrete have previously supplied heavyweight material for the counterweight of Great Yarmouth’s Herring Bridge, however the Gullwing Bridge presented different challenges as Jack Sindhu explained: ‘The bridge raises and lowers on one platform, compared with two platforms seen in other bascule bridge designs. This means the single platform is larger and therefore requires a higher-density heavyweight concrete in its counterweights.

Scott Mclellan, operations supervisor at Brett Concrete, commented: "It’s always great to work with Jack and the teams at Capital Concrete and Brett Aggregates. Ruben Mercer and the team at Brett Concrete worked hard over the weekend setting up the Ipswich Central plant in preparation for the pour, adjusting the equipment to accommodate for the additional weight of the material."