For the purposes of this thread the opinions I am expressing are my own personal views as an expert witness. Those of you who have followed the previous thread may now know that the battle to save Leazes Bridge in Durham has been lost. This is despite the presentation and multiple verification by one of the UK’s Experts on Reinforced Concrete, of overwhelming technical evidence in favour of repairing the bridge. The ramifications of the Local Authority decision to implement demolition have a long way to run over the next few months so I will not comment further. However again through a freedom of information request it was possible to obtain further heavily redacted Reports covering both Leazes and Baths Bridge which again have significant consequences. The same Consultant that appraised Leazes Bridge for the same Client drew the conclusion that Baths Bridge was also under strength by a very significant margin. The bridge has been subject to a width restriction to “prevent overload” despite the bridge having been repeatedly load tested for many years during the Durham Regata, since its construction in 1962. Myself and the same UK Expert have undertaken a peer review of the Baths Bridge Report. Unfortunately and very embarrassingly we have uncovered serious significant errors in the appraisal that are very basic in nature. If corrected these errors would then result in the bridge being correctly diagnosed with adequate strength. There are again errors in steel reinforcement strength [this time an inappropriate over estimate], but this is offset by major modelling and other errors. Baths bridge is now scheduled for demolition and replacement. How many more of the cities bridges are going to be condemned without sanity/second opinion verification with reliance on a single source inadequately checked appraisal? None I hope but the iconic Kingsgate Bridge must be overdue for an appraisal. Again I stress that this is my own personal opinion but it has been checked and sanctioned by a leading UK Expert. A joint Report as joint authors has been issued to the appropriate bodies. Further updates to follow.
David Walton
5mo
Thanks for sharing
G2M Testing Ltd (Geotechnical & Materials Testing Laboratory)
5moThanks Clive, that was very informative.