Six designs for the first new bridge across the River Avon in Bath for more than 100 years are to be unveiled as part of an international design competition.
The 65m-long Bath Quays cycle and footbridge forms a key part of Bath and North East Somerset Council’s (B&NES) masterplan for the £1bn Riverside Enterprise Area. 
The 98-hectare site, pictured, which straddles the Avon through the city from the Cattle Market to Locksbrook, could create 9,000 jobs and put Bath on the global stage for the creative and digital industries.
The designs will be showcased at an exhibition at the One Stop Shop on Manvers Street, Bath, between September 14 and 25. The designs will also be available to view online at www.bathnes.gov.uk/bathquaybridge.
The competition, launched by B&NES in February, attracted entries from 50 architectural and engineering practices from the UK and beyond.
These have been reduced to a shortlist of six design teams from top-name international firms by a judging panel made up of council representatives and respected figures from the fields of bridge engineering and architecture, including Jane Wernick of structural engineering consultancy Jane Wernick Associates and Bath-based landscape architects Grant Associates founder Andrew Grant.
The shortlist includes international architectural practices such as Thermae Bath Spa designers Grimshaw – which has teamed up with Bath-based international consulting engineers Buro Happold – Dublin-based Heneghan Peng (with global consulting engineers Ove Arup), and London-based architects McDowell & Benedetti (with UK structural and civil engineering consultancy Price & Myers).
Also on the shortlist are Gloucestershire bridge designers Flint & Neill, with Moxon Architects, French architect and engineer Marc Mimram, with structural engineers Webb Yates, and British architects AL_A with AFA Consult.
Voting boxes will be available at the exhibition and feedback can also be given online, so members of the public can choose their favourite design. This feedback will then be considered by the jury panel as they decide which design should be adopted.
Council leader Tim Warren said: “The new bridge is an essential component of the council’s plans to create a new business district, Bath Quays, in the city’s riverside quarter. A development of the scale of Bath Quays is a fantastic opportunity for Bath to reinvent a somewhat overlooked corner and connect it with the vibrant and beautiful historic city.”
Cabinet member for economic development, Cllr Patrick Anketell-Jones, added: “This is a game-changing development for Bath. We want to gauge public opinion on the competition entries before we select the preferred design for what will become a major landmark in the city.”
Alongside the exhibition of the six designs, all 50 children’s entries for the Bath Bridge Top Trumps competition will on display at the One Stop Shop. The winners of the competition will be selected by the expert panel of bridge design judges.
The winning design for the Bath Quays Bridge and the winners of the Top Trumps competition will be announced in November.
