AUGUSTUS CLOSE
OVERVIEW
The Augustus Close road bridge in Brentford, spans over an industrial estate road and the Grand Union Canal and lead down to Brentford Docks and a housing estate. The bridge had suffered long term lack of maintenance and as such a weight limit had been imposed. The scheme aimed to refurbish, to upgrade bearings, strengthen aged steel components and remove the weight restrictions above.
As the bridge was coated in a lead-based paint system a full encapsulation was required and this breached the navigable window below on the Grand Union Canal. In addition to this, when the paint was removed an excessive amount of loss of section was recorded on the riveted steel beams which called for immediate repairs
THE CHALLENGE
THE SOLUTION
The encapsulation had to be hung from the bridge in two phases to ensure river traffic could pass below whilst works were ongoing and protection to the scaffold on the river was installed to reduce the likelihood of a vessel impact. Working closely with the client and designer, Topbond formulated a series of repair methods to allow the rivetted construction to be repaired without the need for excessive temporary works. On completion the newly completed steel repairs, along with the bearing replacements and the steel strengthening works the bridge was opened to both lanes with no weight restriction
