Cody Dock Rolling Bridge
Engaged by a forward-thinking Architect and ambitious Client, Cake Industries relished the challenge to help design and build this unique rolling bridge that engages with its historically industrial location. Cody Dock Rolling Bridge is a sculptural footbridge that uses its unusual form to roll out of the way of boats accessing the dock. The first of its kind in the UK, the unique structure takes advantage of the mechanical behaviour of a “square wheeled bicycle”.
Cody Dock is a huge ex-industrial dock located on the bank of the Lea river in east London. The Dock is now home to a dynamic community of artistic people who are in the process of transforming the place from dereliction into an oasis of creativity and production. A key part of this is reopening the dock to the Lea’s tidal waters so it can be used for moorings. This requires the removal of a dam and the introduction of an opening footbridge. This new footbridge will carry the ‘Leaway’ footpath and cycle route and also ‘The Line’ Sculpture walk. The derelict dock currently acts as a barrier to pedestrians and cyclists accessing an amazing green corridor which runs from Hertfordshire, through Waltham Abbey and the Olympic Park, before ending at the Thames.
The new footbridge is a first of its kind in the UK; it rolls along the longitudinal axis, raising the deck over the navigation clearance and allowing boats to travel underneath. Made from weathering steel with parapets from galvanised reinforcing bar, the bridge was fabricated in four parts at the Cake Industries workshop and transported to site. It was lifted into a position on complex curved tracks sited on each dock edge. Steam bent oak rubbing strips sit as a sacrificial layer between the track and the bridge. The entire bridge is operated using a pair of manual winches.
Precision was vital during installation, as the design had very little available tolerance as it rolled. Cake Industries focussed on this aspect throughout construction, introducing tolerance controls at every stage and ultimately relying on furniture building techniques and approaches to construct concrete formwork.
Team
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Client: Gasworks Dock Partnership
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Design: Thomas Randall-Page
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Structural Engineering: Price & Myers
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Mechanical Engineering: Eadon Consulting
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Main contractor and fabrication: Cake Industries
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Funding: The National Lottery Heritage Fund
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Photographs and video: Jim Stephenson
Suppliers
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Steam bending: Charlie Whinney Studio
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Steel: Kloeckner
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Rolling: Angle Ring
Awards
- Civic Trust Awards: Highly Commended- Cody Dock Rolling Bridge 2024
- Royal Institute of Fine Arts “Building Beauty” Awards: Commended, Engineering- Cody Dock Rolling Bridge 2023
- Dezeen Awards: Shortlisted, Infrastructure and Transport- Cody Dock Rolling Bridge 2023
- Structural Awards: Winner- Cody Dock Rolling Bridge 2023
- International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering Awards: Winner, Small Projects- Cody Dock Rolling Bridge 2023
- Structural Steel Design Awards: Merit- Cody Dock Rolling Bridge 2023
- Bridges Awards 2023: Winner, “Bridge Design”- Cody Dock Rolling Bridge 2023
- AJ Small Projects Awards: Shortlisted- Cody Dock Rolling Bridge 2023
