Bridge refurbishment shortlisted for People’s Choice Award

The Institution of Civil Engineers has recognised the importance of a Rochester engineering project by shortlisting it for an international People’s Choice Award.

The Rochester Bridge Refurbishment Project, which was completed to a high standard, on time and under budget despite the Covid-19 pandemic, has been selected as an example of the positive impact civil engineering can have on local communities.

The project will now be put to a public vote to decide which of six civil engineering schemes is the People’s Choice for 2021. The previous winner was the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB) Hong Kong section project.

Sue Threader, Bridge Clerk (Chief Executive) at the Rochester Bridge Trust which owns and maintains the crossing, said: “To be shortlisted for the ICE People’s Choice Award recognises the success of our commitment to public engagement.

“It was a very high priority to ensure that any unavoidable disruption was kept to an absolute minimum and we did everything we could to keep the community as informed as possible throughout. We also wanted to make the most of the opportunity to highlight the potential of civil engineering, both in everyday lives and as a future career choice, and so we utilised the refurbishment as a learning tool so that families and people of all ages could be inspired. We were very pleased by the interest this generated.”

Rochester Bridge comprises three structures crossing the River Medway, the heritage Old Bridge and the 1970s New and Service Bridges. The mutli-million pound refurbishment took 18 months to complete and – as with all maintenance activities on the bridges – was carried out at no cost to the public. The lead contractor was FM Conway. For more information visit www.rbt.org.uk/refurbishment

To vote for the project in the ICE People’s Choice award visit https://www.ice.org.uk/what-is-civil-engineering/peoples-choice-award