SPENCER Bridge Engineering, part of the Spencer Group, has secured three new projects on major bridges across Scotland.
The Yorkshire-based engineering specialist, which has carried out works on some of Scotland’s most iconic bridges, has been appointed to carry out works on Kessock Bridge, Forth Road Bridge, and Tay Road Bridge during 2025 and 2026.
After previously completing works to design and install a new underdeck gantry on Kessock Bridge in 2018, Spencer Bridge Engineering has been appointed to carry out steelwork modifications, strengthening, and painting in the four towers on the bridge, which crosses the Beauly Firth at Inverness.
The modifications will allow improved access through the towers and an integrated rescue system that will significantly improve safety for workers operating inside the pylons by providing a quick and effective method of rescue in the event of an emergency.
The project requires close collaboration between the client, BEAR Scotland, and its designers, Jacobs, to ensure the complex steelwork modifications are delivered efficiently in accordance with the specification.
In a separate project, the bridge engineering specialist has also been appointed to carry out works on the Forth Road Bridge. Spanning the Firth of Forth, connecting Edinburgh to Fife, the 2,500m crossing was the longest suspension bridge in the world outside of the United States at the time of its construction and is now primarily designated as a public transport corridor, with restrictions on vehicle types.
Spencer Bridge Engineering’s team will carry out complex replacement of the lateral thrust bearings, which are at the end of their serviceable life, near the towers of the bridge. The bearings are from the original construction in the early 1960s and have been identified on the Forth Road Bridge Critical Element Programme.
The project involves installation of significant temporary steel-work to enable the replacement operation, including steel-work strengthening, painting and complex temporary access to facilitate the construction works under the bridge deck. Enabling works will be carried out in 2025, with the bearing replacement works in 2026 to coincide with favourable weather.
Completing the hat-trick of Scottish projects, Spencer Bridge Engineering has also been appointed to replace two underdeck gantries on Tay Road Bridge which connects Dundee to Newport-on-Tay.
The project team will replace the two existing gantries which have been in position on the bridge since the 1980s.
Spencer’s in-house designers will deliver the structural, mechanical and electrical design works on the £5 million project with the new gantries specially designed to include a number of new innovative design features including a web traction drive system for propulsion.
Working closely with the client, Tay Road Bridge Joint Board, and their consultant WSP, Spencer’s team will remove the existing gantries, before installing the new gantries and commissioning them for use.
Alan Hutchinson, bridge manager at Tay Road bridge Joint Board, said, “I am very much looking forward to working with the Spencer team on this very important project. These new state of the art under bridge inspection gantries will play a crucial role in helping us keep the bridge safe for all of our 26,000 daily users far into the future.”
Glen Smithson, operations director at Spencer Bridge Engineering, said, “Having the ability to provide turnkey solutions, delivering both the design and installation works, enables us to have tight control of each element of the project and ensure we are delivering the highest quality works in the most efficient way.
“Our ethos of having strong collaboration with our clients ensures our projects are more closely tailored to each client’s individual needs and specifications. Our teams are adept at working in remote, exposed locations, with difficult logistics, which is another factor which makes us so well equipped to work on so many Scottish infrastructure projects.”
