Conference and Workshop Programme Announced

Registration is now open for the Bridges 2020 conference and workshop.  We are pleased to announce that Bridges 2020 will incorporate a post event workshop on Friday 13th March. 

Over 450 delegates attended Bridges 2019 - the leading event in the Bridges calendar. Click here to add the Bridges to your outlook calendar. 

For 27 years, the Bridges conference has driven technical knowledge, debate and discussion at the heart of Europe's bridge community.

The conference programme for Bridges 2020 will serve a wide variety of challenging case studies, cutting-edge technologies as well as the latest developments in bridge construction, inspection, maintenance and structural health monitoring. 

Highlights of the main conference programme include a presentation on the offshore mega project nearing completion in Reunion Island, 900km east of Madagascar. Also back on the conference agenda will be the popular Pecha Kucha-style series of quick-fire presentations focussed on bridge innovations.

Post event workshop

The Grand Challenges New to Bridges 2020 is a day of workshops that are being organised in partnership with the Bridge Owners’ Forum. Maintaining the country’s crossings in a safe and serviceable state is of paramount importance for the surrounding communities as well as for the economic prosperity of the country as a whole. However, local authorities, bridge owners and bridge engineers are facing significant challenges that range from evolving transport demands and increasingly adverse climatic events to economic and environmental pressures.

During the Bridges 2020 Workshops the five Grand Challenges will be identified and some of the priority areas for development discussed in a series of themed sessions.  

Speakers and programme highlights include:

• Sustainability and the carbon footprint: what can bridge engineers do?
  Lee Franck, Realtyimpact
  
• Bridge maintenance
  John Collins, principal engineer, Roughan & O’Donovan
  
• BD 54/15 Management of post-tensioned concrete bridges
  Donald Pearson Kirk, WSP
• The world’s first biobridge
  Sjoerd Vrieswijk, Friesland Province, The Netherlands
• 3D-printed bridges, longevity and sustainability
  Bart-Jan Van Der Graag, Royal HaskoningDHV
• Introducing the Five Grand Challenges for bridge owners, including key facts and priority areas for development
  Richard Fish, Bridge Owners’ Forum
• Design for operation and maintenance of steel bridges: best practice and worst culprits
  Andrew Hodgkinson, Hewson Consulting
• Wool Old Bridge project: a model for historic reconstruction projects
  David Clegg and Richard Parfitt, Dorset County Council

Speakers Include: