Designing a centrepiece bridge crossing

Regent’s Canal Bridge

Regent’s Canal is a nine-mile waterway that winds its way quietly through London, from the River Thames at Limehouse to Paddington, running through King’s Cross. People still live along the canal in a mix of boat moorings and heritage buildings, giving the community a close connection to nature. As King’s Cross has recently redeveloped, access to the area needed to be addressed. It has been improved with steps, ramps, new moorings and three new bridges. Our job? Designing Regent’s Canal Bridge, the centrepiece bridge crossing the Regent's Canal into Granary Square, King's Cross.

Regent’s Canal Bridge is a 27-metre-span, fully-integral bridge with precast, post-tensioned concrete beams supported off contiguous bored pile foundations. The bridge is the main route for the services crossing the canal, and the space demands and alignment requirements left little cross-section for the structural concrete—an issue which we resolved to create a robust and lasting structure.

The bridge concept was developed in conjunction with Martin Knight Architects, using a type of parapet (with bespoke, lit-end pilaster details) that has never been used in the UK before. Although there were many engineering challenges during the construction of the bridge, they were all overcome to create a striking piece of urban infrastructure. The bridge design complements a south-facing canal-side urban event space, which is extremely popular during the summer months.