Built in the 1940s to support wartime industries, Winterstoke Road Bridge was no longer able to fulfil its role as a principal route into Weston-super-Mare.
In recent years, a weight restriction has meant that larger traffic has to avoid the bridge, causing congestion in the town centre, and the declining condition of the bridge meant a permanent closure was inevitable.
North Somerset Council commissioned the Winterstoke Road Bridge Project to be worked on by Octavius and for a new bridge to take its place, continuing to serve the local community for years to come.
Estimated to take approximately two years before completion, the design and build project to replace the bridge is well underway. To reach this stage principal contractor Octavius has overcome a complex combination of challenges; demolishing a bridge and laying the foundations for its replacement on a congested site with poor ground conditions, close to residential streets, and straddling a railway.
Aligning stakeholders
On a project like this complexity takes many forms. Key among them is successfully aligning the needs of multiple stakeholders with the project’s goals. The customer is North Somerset Council, Octavius’ first project for this organisation. The bridge to be demolished is owned by the Ministry of Defence, who fund the project.
The bridge spans the Bristol to Taunton mainline, making Network Rail an important stakeholder, along with train operating companies GWR and CrossCountry. The structure to be demolished carries water and gas mains as well as telecoms cabling; making the utilities companies also influential in how work can be completed. The work is in a residential area, with the nearest homes around eight metres from the site’s holding line; making consideration for local people paramount.
Road over rail challenges
Network Rail is the stakeholder with the greatest influence over programme and this has had project ramifications; Possessions were restricted to Saturday nights and a challenging two nights per six-week cycle. This imposed a very linear approach without much scope for creative sequencing. Demolition took place during a Christmas 2025 blockade, and a winter 2026 blockade is anticipated for the new bridge’s installation.
Although Octavius was only able to tender the project because the company is a principal contractor for Network Rail, the project was not delivered under that license, and all work which impinged upon Network Rail’s land or assets was successfully assured through the Asset Protection and Optimisation (ASPRO) standard. Having many team members with extensive experience of working on projects for Network Rail helped significantly with the successful delivery of this element of the work.
Ground conditions were among the biggest engineering challenges of the project’s first phases with the team working on alluvium 18m in depth. Alluvium is loose ground which can be unpredictable and requires the right method of construction. In such conditions, there was high likelihood that the piles that act as foundations for the new bridge might sink. When completing the works, the ground began to re-swell around the piles’ casing causing too much cohesion, which prevented the piles from being driven to the right depth. We successfully overcame this challenge by using alternative piling rigs and vibrant attachments.
Alternative utility solutions
The original project scope envisaged that the utility and telecom services carried by the old bridge would be carried onto the new bridge, following temporary diversion using a public footbridge created for the work’s duration. With work already underway the gas utility opted not to use the new bridge and sought a permanent diversion. This new element of the project was successfully incorporated into the works.
The very close proximity of homes to the project required a detailed programme of stakeholder management by the project’s designated Stakeholder and Social Value Manager. Along with a comprehensive regime of community communication, the programme also included daily road sweeping throughout the winter and the commitment not to park in the residential streets close to site.
In addition, Octavius has chosen Winterstoke for its annual Leaving a Legacy project, an initiative bringing lasting benefits to the communities the company serves. This involves enhancing community spaces around the Bournville Estate, in partnership with Alliance Homes, the For All Healthy Living Centre and North Somerset Council.
With most of the groundwork completed the next phase of the project is to create the new bridge’s substructure. Completion of the bridge is anticipated for winter 2026/27, followed by construction of the new road. Summer 2027 is the target for project close.
This video gives a great sense of the scale of what we are undertaking at Winterstoke: