Master of the
bridge.
Tristan Ralph has taken up the reins and the chains at Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s world-famous Clifton Suspension Bridge. He talks gorge ecology, BBC drama, and adventuring into the mind-blowing vaults – plus, our technicolour lighting design.
Master of the
bridge.
Tristan Ralph has taken up the reins and the chains at Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s world-famous Clifton Suspension Bridge. He talks gorge ecology, BBC drama, and adventuring into the mind-blowing vaults – plus, our technicolour lighting design.
As a structural engineer, I’ve worked in the design of new bridges and the refurbishment and strengthening of old steel or wrought iron structures for 32 years. My first was the big Avonmouth Bridge which goes over the mouth of the River Avon on the M5; it was strengthened and widened back in the mid-Nineties. Working on Scrubs Lane Bridge – built in the early 1900s, so it just about falls into the heritage bridge category – was a challenge. A key infrastructure route on London’s outskirts, it carries a road over the main railway into Paddington station. For the past decade I’ve worked in the rail industry, and while its infrastructure isn’t always so dramatic as Clifton Bridge, it certainly needs tending to.
I was really pleased to see the new lighting switched on; I think we’ve done the right thing for the bridge and the public. It was actually only one part of the refurb work; we’d also been refurbishing the chains that support the bridge. That was a complicated challenge, and I only came in right at the tail end of it. Of course, the lighting takes all the glory – that’s the bit people really notice!
The bridge will be lit up in celebration of key events in the bridge’s history, major local events, relevant museums, archives, heritage and STEM events. We’ll keep it under review, but sadly we can’t take requests. I hope we’ll get the balance right; we’ll be learning and adapting as we go.
A lot of work was done around the potential impact of the new lighting on local ecology – nocturnal creatures, night sky. With every bit of work – even painting – we consider the gorge, a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Bat surveys, among others, were conducted to help inform the lighting design.
I’m pretty sure Brunel would’ve liked it. He designed so many incredible things, but referred to the bridge as his ‘first child’, so I think he always had a soft spot for it even though he never got to see it built. He often looked to implement the latest technology and innovation, so I think he’d approve of his bridge being lit as sympathetically as it is.
The most exciting request in the inbox lately has been from a well-known, long-running BBC drama series. We generally avoid closing the bridge, but they filmed at night to impact as few people as possible. There’s never a dull day at the bridge but that was a very interesting process to watch.
We seem to be getting stronger, more frequent winds so I’m always looking ahead to what’s next in terms of resilience. We’re trying to keep the bridge going for as long as possible and extending its life is a key part of my role. The bridge being open in perpetuity is what we’re aiming for. We replaced a deck section in March – under the tarmac are wood timbers with wrought iron beneath. (Some of those hard woods are incredibly strong!) It’s keeping ahead of the game, making sure that we’re being proactive, not reactive.
The new lighting system is much more focused onto the bridge itself so there’s much less light spill than there was.
Photo: Lydia Evans
It wasn’t until 2002 that the vaults were rediscovered, thanks to a chap called Ray Brown. It was always felt that the abutments couldn’t be solid because they’re too big, but what was there wasn’t known because the original bridge drawings were lost in the 1800s. In 1969, they drilled boreholes through the abutment, trying to hit these enormous voids, but by complete bad luck they missed and went through the few solid bits, so it didn’t tell them anything. It’s amazing to think that all that time they were there, nobody knew.
There are 12 caverns – the public can access two of the largest and they’re impressive. It does tend to blow people’s minds. You go down a path on the edge of the abutment, then there’s a short ladder that goes down to a door, cut into the side of the abutment in the early 2000s. We do guided tours that you can purchase from the museum, but it’s a climb and you need to have a head for heights. It feels like quite an adventure.
It’s important that I understand every inch of the bridge, and seeing the chains up close will be so fascinating for me. You might think they just dangle over, but they’re complicated bits of engineering and the way they connect into the towers is impressive. I’m excited to go up the towers. Once you get to the middle layer, there’s a cradle that drops down like a window cleaner’s basket. You get in and the motor takes you up.
Age of the bridge
Daily number of motorised vehicles using the bridge
Metres of linear lights (that's the length of 55 double decker buses)
Looking out south towards the city at dusk, and realising how many people could be looking back at you, is amazing. You see miles into the distance, see all the houses; for me, it’s lovely to imagine how many people have a direct view of the bridge, and to know it’s visible from so far. My late father was a big fan of Brunel, and he loved going up to the bridge. He admired how elegant the engineering was; how lightweight it is for such a large span. He worked in the building trade but in later years conducted brass bands and taught music. He had a picture of the bridge at home in his kitchen and we would often come up for a walk. When I got the job, I was cock-a-hoop, but instantly had this regret that I couldn’t tell him. He would have been really pleased.
Today, you typically design bridges for a life of 100 to 120 years, and Clifton Bridge is already way past that. It’s mind-blowing that it’s 162 years old. Of course, it was designed in the days of horse and carriage, not motorised vehicles, so it’s incredible that 6,000 to 7,000 vehicles use this bridge every day, all those years later. It’s been looked after and it was clearly really well thought-through in the first place – yet not over-engineered. The weight limit has helped, too.
Obviously Clifton Suspension Bridge is my favourite but if I had to choose a second… Tamar Bridge has a place in my heart, as a proud Cornish person. I used to love going over it when I was little. I get to liaise with those in equivalent roles to mine at other bridges, including the Tamar, which is nice. We compare good practice, lessons learned, what’s working well in terms of maintenance and innovation. You can always learn something from the way other organisations do things – every day’s a school day.
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