The UK Environment Agency commissioned ECS Engineering Services to replace its aging bridge at its site at Mapledurham on the River Thames, and design, supply and install a new bridge. To ensure the new bridge would last decades with minimal maintenance, ECS used Infracore – a fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) bridge construction technology invented by Fibrecore Europe – which uses FRP to build complete bridge structures at its plant in Holland. Although Fibrecore has built more than 450 bridges installed across mainland Europe, an FRP approach to bridge building is relatively new in the UK.
ECS had two major goals for the project: to improve the capacity of the local access routes to the Mapledurham weir and upgrade the size and strength of the existing bridge structure. To accomplish both, ECS needed a material that would help it combat the challenges involved in replacing the bridge – such as the remote site location, limited vehicle access and short time frames required for installation.
The FRP technology, combined with an off-site manufacturing approach, allowed for the composite bridge deck to be constructed and delivered in a short period of time. The use of a lightweight Infracore FRP deck meant that ECS was able to deliver the bridge to site by floating it on a barge down the Thames.
