Our extensive work on linear infrastructure, and rail corridors in particular, has led us to develop our own kit-of-parts approach. This centres around intelligent design which maximises standardisation and repetition, while balancing contextual sensitivities with the ambition to provide a routewide identity. This approach is evident in our work on a standardised rail corridor footbridge. Here, an elegant and efficient weathering steel arch is used to remove the need for central supports, while accommodating a variable back-span - which means the design can easily adapt to different sites.

Linear infrastructure is often associated with severance, which can be environmentally, socially and economically detrimental to local communities. It is hugely important to provide routes across new and existing transport corridors, encouraging active travel and better connecting communities. Our designs for standardised rail corridor footbridges seek to address this need, providing user focused bridges which people can enjoy crossing. We achieve this with a refined design which includes variable perforation of the footbridge balustrades, maximising views wherever possible, as well as leaning the balustrades out to maximise the sense of space and openness for people crossing without the associated costs of a wider bridge deck.

The efficiency of the design minimises embodied carbon while the DfMA principles applied maximise prefabrication and minimise construction time on site. This makes the footbridge quicker and safer to build and minimises disruption to local communities. All this with a design that provides a high-quality user experience.