Somers Town Bridge

The Somers Town Bridge crosses the Regents Canal in central London and was opened in 2017. It is a bridge of extreme simplicity - almost impossibly slender – but meeting the structural demands with the very minimum of materials.

Designed for cyclists and pedestrians to cross from Camley Street into the King’s Cross development; a landmark redevelopment project by the developer client, Argent (on behalf of King’s Cross Central Partnership Ltd); the bridge spans 38m and is only 1100mm deep at mid-span and 400mm deep at the ends. In keeping with the Victorian heritage of the area, the bridge is unadorned and streamlined, focusing attention on extremely detailed and precise craftsmanship and high-quality materials.

With such a slender deck form this bridge would normally be sensitive to pedestrian induced vibrations, but for the inclusion of 3 sets of tuned mass dampers at mid-span that are hidden by a cover plate that provides the bridge identification number – 34B.

This paper presents the story of the bridge development and its response to several challanges.

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