How we did it ... Bridge brings new focus to town's regeneration

Ben Willis, Planning, 8 August 2008

Background: In 2003, Castleford was chosen for a Channel 4 series documenting the regeneration of a small town. The footbridge, which opened last month, is one of the projects that features in the series.

Who is behind it?: Architects McDowell+Benedetti, engineers Alan Baxter & Associates and Arup, contractors Costain, English Partnerships, Yorkshire Forward and Wakefield Council.

Project aims: To unite the north and south banks of the River Aire, opening up Castleford's neglected waterside.

Skills involved: Architecture, structural engineering, hydrodynamic modelling, masterplanning and community consultation.

When Castleford was chosen as the subject of Channel 4's documentary on the renewal of a town, the partners behind the project consulted members of the local community. One of the projects they asked for was a new crossing over the River Aire, which bisects the town and is served by only one road bridge dating back to the Victorian era.

Following a competition in 2003, community representatives selected architects McDowell+Benedetti to design the crossing. Initially the team proposed a floating bridge, an idea that gained considerable support from the community.

"It was a way of doing a quick, cheap and cheerful crossing," explains project architect Renato Benedetti. "We made a physical model of the river at a laboratory to test the river's hydrodynamics. It all proved to be fine and technically possible."

But with designs for the bridge at the detailed phase, they had to be dropped after British Waterways - which manages the River Aire - refused permission for a floating structure. "Because of its maintenance regime and the size of boats it uses we couldn't get approval," says Benedetti. "So after two years' work, we were given a new brief, budget and site."

While this was a major setback, Benedetti reports that the team was buoyed by residents. "We had a good relationship with the community from the start," he says. "Their support and unwavering belief kept the project going."

After being forced back to the drawing board, Benedetti devised alternative contenders. The eventual design chosen was an S-shaped structure, a form that traced the geometry of the surrounding landscape. "The snake-like design followed the contours of the interesting elements on the journey across the bridge," Benedetti explains.

A further consideration was the bridge's impact on views of the weir over which it was planned to stretch. "We didn't want the bridge to obscure views of the weir from the old bridge downstream," says Wendy Rainer, one of the two community champions appointed to spearhead residents' involvement. "And it worked - the bridge looks like a thin pencil line across the top of the weir. You can hardly see it."

Again, the design team had to produce a hydrodynamic model of the bridge. "The river rises up to 3m during flooding," explains Benedetti. "So we needed to convince the Environment Agency that the bridge was not going to exacerbate the potential for flooding."

After an 18-month construction period, the bridge opened in July. One of the scheme's objectives was to open up a stretch of river. "During the days of industry, the river was used for effluent discharge and the town turned its back on it," says Benedetti. "Since the industries have shut down the river has become cleaner, but in people's imagination it was no more part of the town."

Benedetti and Rainer agree that the structure, alongside a broader masterplan for the waterfront drawn up by the architects to complement the bridge, has renewed the town's interest in the river. "It's become a meeting place and somewhere that people want to go," says Rainer.

The Castleford Project begins on 11 August at 9pm on Channel 4.