Mersey Gateway

The £1.86bn Mersey Gateway is a significant regional highway improvement project including a major river crossing between Runcorn and Widnes. The 2.4km crossing – the longest in England – was procured by the smallest public authority in the country. They relied heavily on an expert team for more than twelve years to realise an extraordinary project, celebrated with a Royal opening by Her Majesty the Queen and the Duchess of Sussex in June 2018.

The distinctive three-tower reference design by Knight Architects and Ramboll proposed a unique composition for a large cable-stayed bridge, with the two outer towers markedly taller than the central one. The position of all three towers gives an optimum span combination, minimising footprint within the environmentally sensitive estuary and observing a maximum height set by the nearby Liverpool Airport. The singular towers are positioned centrally with a single plane of paired stay cables.

In addition to the concept design role, Knight Architects led the project through multiple CABE Design Reviews before the project successfully achieved planning approval through a Transport & Works Act permission. Our team also prepared a detailed guide governing visual and landscape aspects of the entire 9km-long corridor. Knight Architects remained a key part of the Client technical team throughout the procurement and detailed design stages and was Concept Guardian during the construction phase.