·Stranraer Academy
·Langholm Footbridge

Projects - some detailed examples ...

STRANRAER ACADEMY
They call the 400m long covered route from one end of Stranraer Academy to the other a 'boulevard'. In truth, it's a bit more like a very long grove of leaning trunks and overhanging branches with the sky filtering down between. Despite the great arboreal imagery the prosaic reality is that it is all in steel plus the asymmetrical glass vault protecting pedestrians below from the elements.

Altogether there are 15 steel trees each with a main trunk and two main branches. Each of these in turn has four sub branches forming the edges of an inverted pyramid interlinking on the lower side of the vault with struts attached to the buildings in the formation of pyramids on their sides.

Together with the glazing bars overhead this forms an intricate, forest-like array whose appearance of informality is enhanced by the way the trees are slightly out of true. They lean 8° into the middle of the boulevard and are arranged in pairs, each pair leaning 8° into each other - or away from each other depending where you start.

Fabrication turned out to be a two-part operation. The trunks were split into two sections with the branches and their triangular connecting elements welded on. On site, the trunks were welded together and the tips of the branches Hollobolted together. When all of the trees were thus connected, the branches had become a very long latitudinal triangular tubular truss supporting the glazing panels. The latter were intended to be planar glazing but in the end the Vitral system was selected because of fears about the effect of the exposed coastal environment.

LANGHOLM FOOTBRIDGE over the River Border Esk

Located adjacent to Langholm Academy, the footbridge has been designed in partnership with the Architectural Services department and Bingham Yates & Partners Consultants. The aim of the project was to provide a safe crossing to the new sports fields.

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