One of Huddersfield’s biggest employers has secured planning permission for a new footbridge over a busy road which splits its site.
Cummins Turbo Technologies will build the bridge over St Andrew’s Road to improve safety for staff and visitors.
The company submitted a planning application to Kirklees Council after a member of staff was seriously injured while crossing the road.
The footbridge has been designed by another Huddersfield business, Farrar Bamforth Architecture Ltd.
Plans for the footbridge – which has a view of Castle Hill directly behind it – were originally described as “stark and utilitarian” and the design was altered at the suggestion of planners.
The original ‘stark’ design of the Cummins footbridge
Curves were added to make the bridge appear more streamlined and also reflect the ‘C’ of the Cummins logo and the turbos that the company manufactures.
Feature cladding made the bridge appear less bulky and integrate more with the connecting building.
Farrar Bamforth created CGI visuals that showed a photo-real impression of how the finished bridge would look in the environment.
Planning permission has now been granted and Joe Hobson, project lead at Farrar Bamforth Architecture, said: “We’re very pleased to have got this over the line as it’ll make going into work a whole lot safer for the 1,000-plus people who work at the site.
“It was also a bit of a departure from our usual projects so a really interesting challenge for us. The pre-application process offers a great opportunity to make adjustments, and we agree that it’s a more attractive structure than the original plans that focused on function but perhaps not enough on form!”
Visit the Farrar Bamforth website for further information about the project https://farrarbamforth.co.uk/cummins-footbridge-getting-the-balance-of-functionality-and-visual-appearance-right/
