31 Jonathan McDowell – Scale Lane Construction

Some memories of the genesis of the distinctive form of Scale Lane Bridge, which won McDowell+Benedetti and our team the competition for the new bridge back in 2005:

“Having worked out that a ‘swing’ bridge would be the most economic type of opening bridge in this particular context and found that, because of the mud banks on the west bank, the required navigable channel did not extend across the full width of the river, we realised that the larger and heavier we made the west part of the bridge, the better a counterbalance it would provide for the part that has to span over the channel. This is somewhat unusual for a bridge where we would generally be striving to minimise the weight and amount of material in the structure.

This led to the idea of making the west end of the bridge large and circular – large enough in circumference that, as it rotates to open, it remains in continuous contact with the bank. That created the opportunity to allow people to safely walk on and off the bridge while it is actually rotating and hence to enjoy riding on it as it swings open; the world’s first bridge to do that. Most swing bridges have barriers to stop people being able to enjoy that experience.

Further, we could increase the weight of the counterbalance end by mounding it up and thereby forming a raised viewpoint and a sort of landscape that people could walk over to enjoy different views over the riverscape. Turning the mound into a circular building on the bridge added the potential for a special café or community space on the bridge itself (…and it’s a great shame that the council have still not found an economic use for that unique space!).

The narrowing section of bridge that cantilevers out, up and over the channel, would have been too steep if it went straight across the river, so we curved it to increase the walkway length and hence reduce its slope to a gentle gradient. At the initial stage it curved to the north to link to the then-planned ‘Boom’ housing development but later, when boom went bust, reversed to curve towards The Deep.

From these practical considerations the distinctive ‘apostrophe’ shape of bridge emerged.

Photos of the two rough card-and-plasticine models that we made early in the design process show the form emerging”.

Jonathan McDowell  (formerly Partner, McDowell+Benedetti, architects for Scale Lane Bridge)

The following photographs show Scale Lane bridge in construction, fabrication in workshop and on site. Thanks to Jonathan McDowell for sharing, and permission to publish, these previously unseen photographs.

The following gallery of photographs of Scale Lane Bridge under construction were taken by Hull photographer Bernard Sharp and published here with permission and under licence.

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