Mammoth Bridge Frees Up Residential Land

As one of Leeds’ longest established business parks enters its next phase of development, HBPW is poised to deliver a piece of engineering that will be instrumental to the release of large tranches of residential development land.

Thorpe Park on the outskirts of the West Yorkshire city is located between Whitkirk and Swillington, and has been under development for more than two decades.

It is already well-known for the Thorpe Park Hotel, one of the region’s key wedding venues, as well as office space, however, plans are now well in hand to create more commercial space over the coming years including a cinema complex and retail space for the likes of Next.

Partner, Jon Livesey, said: “Thorpe Park Developments Ltd (TPDL), who are behind the business park, are also leading the development of a major dual carriageway which will ultimately form part of the East Leeds Orbital Route (ELOR) once it has been adopted by Leeds City Council.

“As part of this wider phase, TPDL has employed the services of contractor, Galliford Try to construct a new bridge over the Leeds to Hull railway line on what is currently a large area of land to the east of Cross Gates.

“Once complete the bridge will play a key role in enabling residential traffic from the old Vickers site at Cross Gates – earmarked for houses but not yet developed – to access the ELOR and other key highways in the area.

A Birds Eye View

“It goes without saying that the bridge is not only key to the future development of Thorpe Park Business Park, but also the city council’s residential strategy for East Leeds.

“It has a 29m span and uses integral prestressed W-beams, with reinforced concrete abutments, to form a large portal frame.  Whilst currently crossing two tracks the bridge has been designed with a further two in mind which may result from future upgrades of the Trans Pennine line.  The bridge will carry a dual carriageway and cycleways to both sides so at 28m wide, it’s almost as wide as it is long – it’s a big bridge!” added Jon.

HBPW has worked closely with Galliford Try to optimise design whilst also identifying efficiencies throughout the design process.

“A fully developed solution was provided at tender stage, but through some minor design tweaks and some re-analysis, we have managed to remove approximately 40 tonnes of reinforcement from the design. Another example of value engineering.”

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