CONTEXT 178 : DECEMBER 2023 37 DOUGLAS CAMPBELL A listed bridge too far Glasgow’s Kingston Bridge, carrying the M8, is listed despite problems with its design, loss of structural authenticity and original fabric, and harmful changes to its appearance. Where buildings constructed in the second half of the 20th century are concerned, recognition of their architectural or historic interest has the capacity to stir strong emotions. It is architecture constructed within some of our lifetimes and experience, architecture we may remember being constructed along with attendant politics, architecture some may even have contributed to. It is, however, architecture we need to carefully consider for statutory protection when the passage of time allows adequate objectivity. A legacy of the 1945 Bruce Plan, a post-war vision that would have seen the demolition of most of Victorian Glasgow city centre, the 1960s M8 motorway was a design for an era where road building was typically seen as a solution out of congestion and towards economic development. Officially opened in June 1970, the Kingston Bridge’s large single span reads as a pragmatic and economical continuation of the M8 over the River Clyde. Designed by consulting engineers WA Fairhurst and Partners from 1963–67, it is reminiscent of the 1963 M2 Medway Bridge, but more complex. Its cantilevered concrete box girder spans are wider and longer than those of the Medway Bridge, and are delivered with decorative cladding and a dash of style commensurate with its urban environment. Serious structural issues at the Kingston Bridge emerged as early as the late 1980s, leading to precautionary lane closures, temporary works, monitoring and remedial structural redesign. With the fabric failure and level of intervention required so soon after the bridge opened, my interest was piqued when a proposal emerged to list the bridge as being of ‘architectural or historic interest’ in 2020, in its 50th anniversary year. Rotation in the north pier foundations cracked the riverside quay wall. Elements of cladding dropped from the bridge into the roadway. The bridge deck dropped 300mm mid-span. Some bridge deck expansion joints were fully locked up, while others were fully open and they were not adjusting with the seasons. One of the bridge piers was leaning. Left without intervention, these extremely serious engineering issues could have been catastrophic, under the right loading circumstances.1 Legal action was raised by the roads authority against the consulting engineers in 1992 arguing negligent failures in the design of the bridge. An upstream view of Kingston Bridge in the 1970s (Photo: Scottish Roads Archive) Substantially thicker, redesigned piers (Photo: Douglas Campbell) 1 Brodie, A and Telford, I (2001) ‘Telford Kingston Bridge strengthening, Phase 1’, paper given at the Institution of Structural Engineers, October
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