The Clyde Waterfront & Renfrew Riverside project will be carried out by Graham, with the contract due to be finalised later this month following conclusion of the procurement process.
Centrepiece of the project is a twin-leaf swing bridge for vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians crossing between Renfrew and the boundary between Glasgow and West Dunbartonshire.
The project, which will create new connections into Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District Scotland (AMIDS), is jointly funded by the UK and Scottish governments through the £1.13bn Glasgow City Region city deal. It will support about 700 jobs during its construction and generate hundreds of subcontract and supplier opportunities.
Leo Martin, managing director for Graham's civil engineering division, said: "We're delighted to have been chosen to deliver the Clyde Waterfront and Renfrew Riverside project, including the River Clyde bridge, with our design partners Ramboll and Amey.
“The new bridge will provide a gateway to the area's fast-growing manufacturing innovation district and help better connect communities with significant employment and development opportunities for what will be a transformational project for the Renfrewshire and Glasgow City regions.
"Graham are specialists in delivering complex civil engineering projects and our innovative construction solution will minimise the carbon impact, while we will utilise our knowledge and experience from previous landmark bridge construction and installations such as the Samuel Beckett Bridge in Dublin and Carpenters Land Bridge in Stratford to ensure this key infrastructure scheme is completed to the highest standards, while ensuring we deliver a sustainable legacy and positive impact.”
Renfrewshire Council leader Iain Nicolson said: "We are delighted to have approved the awarding of this contract and look forward to working with civil engineering specialists Graham and its project partners on what is a hugely significant project for Renfrewshire, the Glasgow City Region and indeed Scotland.
"We are excited by its potential in creating a vibrant attractive waterfront and connecting communities to their work, to hospitals and to education. Short-term, it will accelerate economic recovery from the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic by creating jobs and boosting opportunities for suppliers and in the long-term, the new infrastructure opens up access to development opportunities on both sides of the Clyde and will ensure the success of AMIDS, cementing Renfrewshire's position as the home of manufacturing innovation in Scotland."
All planning consent is in place; construction is scheduled to start in spring and take three years to complete, with the contract to be finalised later this month following conclusion of the procurement process.
Further Glasgow City Region City Deal funding is supporting Renfrewshire Council as it converts a 52-hectare site next to Glasgow Airport into the research and development centre for advanced manufacturing, AMIDS. Construction of the underpinning infrastructure is scheduled for completion this year and plans are progressing for a specialist carbon reducing district heating network, campus square and riverside green spaces. The district has already attracted £185m in infrastructure, research, innovation and skills facilities, with construction started on both the flagship National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS) headquarters facility and the Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre.
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
