Goldhawk Bridge Restoration Ltd

24/03/2025

Rehabilitating, strengthening and refurbishing our countries’ stock of heritage masonry bridges is without doubt a pleasure and an honour. To be able to provide this specialist sustainable service within the close-knit environment of the dedicated and impressive international bridge community is exciting and rewarding.

Our consultant and masonry arch genius Bob Falconer together with Chris Fernandes of Arcadis gave an excellent presentation on a challenging listed bridge strengthening project in Cardiff. AmcoGiffen, Arcadis and Goldhawk liaised directly with the LA heritage officer and a CARE registered engineer (Conservation Accreditation Register of Engineers) to obtain approval to carry out the works.

We must thank Brian Boughton, co-founder of the MARS system, who could not be with us this year, but provided invaluable marketing support before and after the event. Thank you to Bridge design & engineering for a great exhibition. We look forward to seeing you at Bridges Scotland in November!

24/02/2025

20/12/2023

Wishing all our friends an enjoyable Christmas break and our very best wishes for the coming new year

07/12/2023

At Goldhawk, we are proud of the fact that the MARS System is the most cost-effective and environmentally friendly method of masonry bridge rehabilitation. The MARS System utilises the existing strength of a masonry arch bridge and only adds minimum material to bring it up to current loading standards. Our materials come from UK suppliers and we only use hand tools hired locally with no need for large plant. Road closures involving energy guzzling and time-wasting detours are avoided.
We can also be proud that our MARS System is the most ecologically friendly method of masonry bridge rehabilitation. The System is sympathetic towards maintaining wildlife habitats being able to incorporate existing bat roosts in voids in masonry bridges and masonry bees appear contented living around our installation. Also, otters, eels, crayfish, toads, newts and other waterborne creatures often seen swimming around our working platforms. We mustn’t forget our land-based creatures such as badgers, foxes, rabbits and dormice which are not disturbed by our works.
All wildlife is important and must be preserved and it is the Goldhawk mission to support ecologists in their work.

20/07/2022

I've put the next video on YouTube. It gives the story behind the development of the MARS System. I hope it is of interest.

These presentations ( System) describe the MARS System of repairing and strengthening masonry arch bridges.The MARS System is the most environmentally a...

16/07/2022

I’ve put three presentations about the MARS System of masory arch strengthening on YouTube.

https://lnkd.in/ew43T3V8

https://lnkd.in/e4QitBpy

https://lnkd.in/eAC6vG8u

They are for a UK audience. I hope they are of interest.

These presentations ( System) describe the MARS System of repairing and strengthening masonry arch bridges.The MARS System is the most environmentally a...

18/04/2022

I'll be giving a presentation to IStructE on our experiences in strengthening and repairing masonry bridges on 25th April 2022 at the University of Surrey. The talk will use case studies to illustrate the use of the MARS System. It will be available on line so all are welcome to attend.

19/02/2022

At Goldhawk, we not only enjoy the challenge of large bridges, small bridges can also be just as interesting. This small bridge had suffered extensively from flood damage and had been ‘strengthened’ by reducing the span and constructing concrete infill under the damaged section of the barrel. This not only reduced the aperture of the bridge, it also damaged the barrel when the wrought iron beams supporting the infill were inserted. Flood waters had also loosened the stone voussoirs resulting numerous stones that had dropped by up to 40mm.
Goldhawk removed the concrete infill and the corroded wrought iron beams, jacked the voussoirs back in position and grouted them in place. This brought the capacity of the bridge up to 3t GVW. The bridge serves an industrial depot and the MARS System was then installed to bring the capacity up to 44t GVW.
As the inserted ‘abutment’ walls would have had the effect of weakening the barrel rather than strengthening it, Helifix Sockfix anchors were used to tie the barrel to the abutment inserts.
As the foundations do not exhibit any distress and there is no anticipated increase in applied loading, the foundations were deemed adequate.
The MARS installation not only is the cheapest and most environmentally friendly method of strengthening masonry bridges, in this case it opened up the aperture of the bridge to ameliorate flooding.

24/12/2021

The cheapest, most environmentally friendly and permanent method of masonry bridge restoration.

29/07/2021

Bridge Infilling
Much has been made in the news lately about the controversial practice of infilling bridges with aggregate stabilized by lean mix concrete. The MARS System offers a much cheaper alternative for masonry arches, typically less than 50% of the financial cost of infilling and a small fraction of the environmental and ecological cost.

The MARS System offers a permanent solution in that it uses stainless steel bars fully encapsulated in an inert adhesive grout. It utilises the inherent strength of the arch barrel, so that only a minimum amount of material is added, and it is installed using handheld tools. No large plant is involved.

The infilling solution entails local congestion, emissions and diesel usage from the transportation of heavy plant and many tons of aggregate and concrete. It necessitates the permanent loss to the planet from the quarrying and extraction of the aggregates and requires the generation of a huge amount of greenhouse gases from the manufacture of the cement used in the concrete mix. It also causes permanent disruption to the local ecosystems.

The MARS System is installed from a raised platform underneath the bridge so there is minimum disturbance to flora and fauna and no disruption to users of the bridge. The grid of encapsulated stainless-steel bars prevents bricks or stone blocks from being dislodged from the barrel. It thus allows our rich heritage of masonry bridges to be preserved and enjoyed for future generations - unlike the infilling solution!

12/03/2021

Strengthening of Oundle North Bridge
Oundle North Bridge is a stunning Grade II listed structure over the navigable River Nene comprising 13 brick and stone arches with a total length of 291.5m. Records indicate that the original bridge was destroyed by floods in 1570 and a new bridge built in 1571. It was then partly re-built in 1835 and again in 1912 when it also was widened. The 1912 arch barrels consist of a bottom, externally facing ring of blue engineering bricks with two further internal rings of red clay engineering brick on a concrete backing. Further repairs were carried out in 1946 following the Second World War.
The arches suffered from a variety of defects including circumferential cracking from differential foundation movement, ring separation and an assessed overall capacity of 3 tonnes GVW.

Goldhawk Bridge Restoration Ltd were contracted to upgrade the understrength sections to bring them up to full highway loading plus the capacity to carry SV100 vehicles. Sympathetic repairs to the stonework of the bridge were also required.

At the start of the contract, Goldhawk had to cope with flooding of the river Nene and its backwaters and Covid19 restrictions. However, the company was still able to complete the project on time and on budget.

The MARS Strengthening System was only applied to the sections of barrels that had been deemed as being understrength. Rigorous measures were put in place to enable the workforce to operate safely during the Covid19 pandemic. Individual air-fed helmets with sealed visors and isolated storage spaces were made available for all technicians and each person was given their own company van to travel to and from site. Social distancing was rigidly adhered to when protective equipment was not being used.