A Lord Rogers-designed Glasgow bridge is to be ‘simplified’ after councillors decided the scheme which had been drawn up was too expensive to build.
The new pedestrian and cycle bridge across the River Clyde, together with public realm works on both banks, were dropped after a meeting of ~Glasgow City Council~'s policy and resources committee decided it had become too expensive.
The cable-stayed compression arch and suspended deck structure was chosen unanimously by a judging panel set up by the Clyde waterfront regeneration working group from a shortlist of six in 2003 (Surveyor, 27 November 2003). ~Glasgow City Council~ had been tendering the design but bids for the project came in at around £48M, substantially greater than the pre-tender cost estimate.
The report presented to the council stated: ‘A savings exercise had been carried out, which had identified savings of approximately £10.1M in the lowest tender, and a further £1.75M could be saved through a value-engineering exercise with the contractor, there was still a funding shortfall of £8.4M to undertake the project.’
The committee agreed to prepare proposals for a revised project, including quayside walls, public realm and a simpler bridge structure within a budget ceiling of £33M. The design will be re-tendered and a design brief for a new, simpler bridge structure will be drawn up.
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