Steel link bridge for Heathrow Airport hotel

Weighing 100t and measuring 170m-long, a new Heathrow Passenger Air Bridge has been successfully installed by Apex Steel Structures.

The steel bridge links a new Premier Inn hotel to the existing bridge network and on to Heathrow Terminal 4.

The entire bridge structure was fabricated in 16 individual truss sections, of varying length, but all measuring 3.1m-wide and 2.95m-high.

The sections were fabricated from 120mm × 120mm box sections, with CHS and RHS cross bracing members. A series of 6m-high, 407mm-diameter CHS columns support the bridge.

Prior to being delivered to site, all of the bridge truss sections were transported to a holding depot where the cladding and flooring were installed and the steelwork painted.

“The installation of the trusses required a lot of planning and close liason with Heathrow Airport to deal with the various crane configurations we needed. The largest was a 220t-capacity mobile unit, needed to lift in a 25m long section spanning one of the Airport’s main roads,” said Apex Steel Structures Director Dean Jarvis.