The Bridge of Scottish Invention is another Millennium
project in which Bennett Associates has been involved. Situated over the River
Irvine in Scotland the unique bridge connects Irvine Harbourside and Maritime
Museum to the "The Big Idea", the highly successful permanent Millennium
exhibition on the Ardeer Peninsula.
Bennett Associates was commissioned at the beginning of 1998 by
‘The Big Idea’ to assist in the design of an innovative footbridge. The sliding
opening bridge as designed is 80m long and retracts 16.5m to leave a clear
navigation channel for boats leaving Irvine Harbour. The bridge is the closest
movable river bridge to the open sea in Britain.
This attractive novel design also offered a saving when compared
to the more traditional movable bridges.
A chain drive mechanism operates the large movable span of the
bridge which runs on rollers mounted on piers in mid river and on rails on the
north bank. When closed the movable span of the bridge docks with the fixed
harbourside span.
Bennett Associates was responsible for the detail design of the
structure, and the mechanical and electrical control systems.
M G Bennett and Associates Ltd is now part of the
Group
