Monkwearmouth Bridge, Sunderland

Client:Network Rail
Value:£2,600,000
Location:Sunderland

The work completed on behalf of Network Rail involved the strengthening and refurbishment of the Monkwearmouth Bridge in Sunderland.  The bridge, which was originally built in 1796, and then rebuilt by Robert Stephenson in 1857, is a listed structure. The works included steelwork repairs, grit blasting and painting.

The bridge which spans the River Wear and is 30m above water level required an innovative access solution in order to undertake the steelwork repairs which involved the installation of 45 new 7.8m long beams each weighing almost 2 tonnes. Scaffolding was erected on the north abutment to give access to the underside of the structure and a 10m long by 4m wide powered working platform was then installed on the existing side members of the bridge to transport men and materials along the 90m span. Two 2 tonne winches were installed to enable the platform to accept and transport the beams to their required position to raise them to the underside of the structure.

The preparatory works on the main trusses were carried out on a dayshift, but the beams could only be installed during a 4 hour night-time possession. During the short possession the work consisted of drilling thirty 22mm diameter holes in the existing trusses to fit stiffening plates and packers, lifting and bolting up 1 new beam and the removal of 4 redundant rail bearers in preparation for the next beam to be installed in the next possession.

The new beams had to be installed during an 8 week period, to enable the grit-blasting and painting works to be delivered to programme.