bridge design & engineering
We are an award winning specialist bridge design firm who help Councils, Designers, Contractors, and Developers deliver creative, vibrant, cost effective footbridges and cyclebridges.
See below our complete range of services and read about our 8 stages of bridge design as developed by our award-winning bridge designers.
Overview of our services
DC Structures Studio can help with every stage of your bridge project, from teasing out early ideas to collaborating on the final construction. These are some of the services we offer:
- Concept bridge design & artistic visualisations
- Detailed bridge design and bridge engineering (PS1)
- Independent Technical Peer Review (PS2)
- Bridge construction monitoring (PS4)
- Bridge cost estimation
- Bridge engineering partnerships for design and construct (D&C) tendering
- Building consenting
- Bridge tendering prep & assessment
- Bridge design documentation
- bridge inspections
- Bridge maintenance strategies
- Dynamic assessment of bridges
bridge design resources
See below links to free resources that can help get you started on your bridge design journey.
- FREE standard footbridge design plans
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- How to build a bridge
Check out below our "8 stages of bridge design"
as used by our award-winnining bridge designers
STAGE 1:
approx. Duration: 1 month
Concept Bridge Design
Concept Bridge Design is the fun part! This is the stage where we assess the site and work with you to understand your budgets, aspirations, constraints, and overall design requirements.
We design bridges specific to their location and budgetry constraints. All our concept bridge designs can be delivered with high-quality 3D artistic visualizations. This means you see what you are getting, and can inspire others when seeking funding and consulting with stakeholders.
If you have a problem that a bridge might help solve, get in touch. We understand budgets are tight early on in a project, so we can often provide early bridge design advice, concepts, or indicative pricing free of charge or “at cost” to help get the project off the ground.
Toki Poutangata Pedestrian Bridge, Westport
STAGE 2:
approx. duration: 1 month
Preliminary Bridge Design
The Preliminary Design Phase is an interim phase whereby the design is taken to a level of circa 30-50% of the full design. This stage is often the point where overall bridge form and geometry are confirmed by the client. This stage yields comprehensive plans, elevations, and cross section showing how the bridge will fit and connect with its environment and solve the site constraints.
Preliminary Design is often used as a segway to review funding requirements, liaise with and update stakeholders on progress, get final client sign-off, and/or apply for resource consents. Updated cost estimation is also carried out at this stage to make sure your project remains on track to meet budget expectations.
Worth noting that the benefit of this milestone is that minor to moderate changes at this stage are much easier (and cost-effective) to implement than changes at the end of detailed design. In other words… this is the perfect time to confirm that the solution is still on track to meet client aspirations for cost, programme, aesthetics, constructability, safety, and environmental outcomes.
Water of Leith Cable Stayed Bridge, Dunedin
STAGE 3:
Approx. duratioN: 3 months
Detailed Bridge Design (PS1)
Detailed design is the phase where we put our brains to the test and run sophisticated bridge design analysis methods to confirm the structural geometry, member sizes, & connections. From here we create design drawings that are used for building consent, construction tendering, and construction.
We use our wealth of New Zealand-specific bridge design experience to produce details that are cost-effective and easy to build.
This list is just an example of common bridge design analysis tasks. Let us know if you have something special in mind that is not mentioned here.
At the end of this stage you will have design drawings and specifications from which the bridge can be constructed. This is the point where we would issue a Designer Producer Statement (PS1) for Building Consent purposes (see more info about PS1 process here).
- 3D SAP2000 analysis modelling
- Static & dynamic soil interaction using winkler springs
- Full seismic design to NZTA Bridge Manual 3rd Edition and/or NZS1170.5
- Liquefaction induced lateral spreading of abutments
- Composite beam design to NZ/AS 5100.6
- Steelwork coating specification
- Finite Element Modelling of connections
- Assessment of chloride effects in concrete structures
- Wind analysis to NZS1170.3
- Wind Aerodynamics & CFD modelling
- Pedestrian Vibration to European codes
- Flood effects to NZTA Bridge Manual 3rd Edition
Piha Footbridge, Auckland
Constructed Jan 2020
STAGE 4:
Approx. duratioN: 1 months
Independent Peer Review (PS2)
Independent Peer Review is the process whereby an independent team (a seperate company) will complete a fully independent parallel analysis of the bridge and review drawings to confirm adequacy of the design. This process is normally required for consenting purposes of medium to large bridges (>$300K) and/or complex bridges.
The process is very similar to the detailed design phase but typically only requires about 1/4 to 1/3 the time and effort used for detailed bridge design analysis stage. It is not required in all situations so get in touch if you want to know if your project needs this or not.
We have strong working relationships with other well respected bridge designers in NZ and have had many of our designs successfully peer reviewed. We often also successfully peer review the work of others. Key to the process is the theme of “collaboration”. Intention is to work pro-actively together in the spirit of mutual respect and trust to get the best outcomes (intention should not be to score points with the client and show how one team is cleverer than the other!).
On completion of the Peer review process, a Reviewer Producer Statement (PS2) is issued for submittal with building consent.
The “Blue Footbridge”, Cambridge
Approx. duratioNs
stage 5:
6 weeks
stage 6:
6 weeks
stage 7:
2 weeks
Once the Detailed Design and independent Technical Peer Review are closed out, the following stages are all completed (sometimes in parallel) using the design documentation (drawings, specifications, PS1, and PS2):
5 – Building Consenting
6 – Bridge Construction Tendering
7 – Tender Assessment & Award
We can support our clients during these phases (some clients, such as Councils, often do these activities in-house).
Wairoa Clip-on Cycleway Truss, Tauranga
STAGE 8:
Approx. duratioN: 6-12 months
Construction Monitoring (PS4)
During construction we give engineering support to contractors and clients to make sure the built structure matches the design. This is a key part of the Building Consent process. At the end of construction our Bridge Engineers will produce a site monitoring certificate (PS4) and prepare “As Built” drawings so you can get a “code of compliance certificate” (CCC) and open the bridge.
Having Bridge Engineers on site means we can collaborate with you and your contractors. This hands-on approach reduces the chance of any costly issues arising and pro-actively speeds up any rectifications that might be required.
Check out our recent
bridge awards below
NZ Bridge Awards are endorsed by Waka Kotahi (NZTA) and we received the “Design Excellence Award” in recognition of setting a new benchmark for sustainable design of bridges. Read more here.
Awarded by the Association of Consulting & Engineering (ACE) our professional services in delivering the Toki Bridge were recognized in the prestigous category of GOLD (the top honour). Read more here.
The Steel Construction NZ (SCNZ) awards recognize excellence in steel design and construction. Wairoa Bridge took out the award category for +$1.5M and also took out the overall “Supreme Award” for steel excellence.
The Resene Total Colour Awards are a celebration of colour. Judges commented that “this bridge pushes the boundaries – going bold with colour where so many have gone bland before it“. Read more here.
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