The Brutus Bridge, Totnes
Built in 1982, the Brutus Bridge was constructed as a two lane
road traffic bridge to carry the Totnes Relief Road over the River
Dart. It gets its interesting name from the mythical figure Brutus
who is said to have given his name to Britain, and whose Stone in
Totnes commemorates the town’s meeting place in Anglo Saxon
times.
Works involved the preparation and painting of the structural
steelwork to the underside of the bridge, access to which was by
way of a specialist slung scaffold. Each section was prepared,
power washed, painted with specialist coatings and inspected to
ensure correct thickness before all the works and the scaffold were
moved along for the next section.
On such a specialist, high risk project, planning was paramount.
In advance, risk assessments, method statements, training records.
PPE details etc were all prepared with the client Devon County
Council. In addition, space was also at a premium because the only
access to the bridge was adjacent to a public footpath, the only
area available for the site compound was small so paint had to be
requisitioned on a regular basis from a stock holding local
supplier. Of course, environmental concerns were also utmost and
all works were completely enclosed with sheeting to prevent any
spillage into the River.