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Suffolk beats Norfolk in the battle of the bridges

Harriet Heywood
BBC News, East of England
PA Media Drone image of Gull Wing Bridge in Lowestoft. It stretches over green river water and has pedestrian walking at either side of the structure. There are two gery curved accents sticking up into the air from the sides of the bridge, almost in the shape of a boomerang. The river can be seen meeting the sea in the background of the image.PA Media
Judges described Lowestoft's Gull Wing Bridge as a "real showpiece of engineering"

Suffolk has triumphed over Norfolk in a battle of bridges that pitted the neighbouring counties against each other.

Gull Wing Bridge in Lowestoft and Herring Bridge in Great Yarmouth were both vying for top spot at a construction industry awards ceremony.

And the Suffolk town took the prize, winning the "Bridges Design and Construction Award" for projects over £10m.

Judges said the £145m Gull Wing Bridge - the largest of its kind in the world - was "a great example of a challenging project" that had "embraced the opportunities to innovate and create a landmark".

Stephen Huntley/BBC A photo taken from up high of people walking across the bridge. Stephen Huntley/BBC
The Gull Wing bridge opened to the public in September

The rival structures - which were up against each other at The Bridges Awards - both opened in 2024 and are both bascule bridges, which are made up of one or two movable spans which pivot upward to allow river traffic to pass.

Commissioned by Suffolk County Council and designed by Arup, Gull Wing Bridge was built after decades of calls for a third river crossing.

Plans were approved in 2015 and main contactors, Farrans Construction, began work in 2021.

Following setbacks the structure opened a year after its predicted completion date in September 2024.

Listen: The Battle of the Bridges

At Wednesday's awards, judges praised it for a "high level engineering" and said its "interesting design" made it a landmark bridge.

"A challenging engineering design only achieved by collaboration with all parties, a real showpiece of engineering," they continued.

John Fairhall/BBC Herring Bridge in Great Yarmouth is a huge structure, with two wings that are upright to allow ships to pass. Both the road for vehicles and pedestrian pavement across the bridge are at an almost 90 degree angle.John Fairhall/BBC
Herring Bridge in Great Yarmouth was also nominated at The Bridges Awards

When it opened, Great Yarmouth's Herring Bridge was hailed as "genuinely iconic and game changing".

It is a double-leaf bascule bridge which opens in the middle to allow river traffic taller than 4.5m (15ft) through.

It was made in two halves by a specialist firm in Belgium, before being transported by sea and up the River Yare to be installed.

Also in the running for the award was a £16m walking and cycling bridge over the River Severn Worcester.

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