Queen Alexandra Bridge

TI Protective Coatings undertook the restoration of the Queen Alexandra Bridge in 2005. Constructed from 1906-1909 as a 2 tier Road and Rail bridge to span the River Wear. The last goods train ran over in 1921, some twelve years after the bridge opened. The rail sections were subsequently removed. The bridge became a grade 2 listed structure in the 1984. The 4 span structure which contains approximately 52,000m² of steelwork required Grit Blasting by a team of 8 Blasters and the application of an industrial 3 coat paint system applied by 15 highly skilled painters, well trained in spray techniques and traditional brushwork skills.
The works which T.I. Protective Coatings carried out on the bridge were worth in the region of £3,000,000 and the project lasted for 16 months
The bridge carries the A1231 from the Roker to the Pallion side of the Wear leading into central Sunderland. It was constructed by Sir William Arrol and Co. Ltd. The railway on the top deck of the bridge provided a connection between the Sunderland branch railway on the south side of the river, and the Southwick and Monkwearmouth line on the north side. Until construction was complete road traffic crossing the river here had to use ferries which crossed the Wear at the bridges’ present day location. The bridge was designed to allow a clearance of 85 feet above the water level to properly service the ship building yards and docks which still flank the bridge. The bridge comprises of three 200ft land spans and a 300ft river span. 

Each land span contains 1,000 tons of steelwork; and the river span 2,600 tons - this was the heaviest bridge span in Britain at the time. The bridge also caters for pedestrians, gas and water mains, high voltage electricity cables and a main for sewage. Approximately 60,000 litres of the paint system supplied by International Paints is applied to the steel in a 3 coat system comprising of Item 111 Sand, Item 112 Natural Grey and a Item 168 top coat in Green, only after it has been blast cleaned to SA2½. The coats are applied using a combination of spray techniques and brushwork to ensure total overcoating reaches those areas where access proves difficult.

The minimum Dry Film Thickness achieved after all coats have been applied is 350 microns. TI Protective Coatings deployed one of their in-house Institute of Corrosion Accredited Paint Inspectors to the site to ensure that the application is carried out to ISO 9001:2000 standard which the company operates. In order to carry out testing the inspector utilizes calibrated inspection equipment, including a Salt Meter to ensure that the surface is not contaminated before application, an Elcometer 456 DFT Gauge to ensure the coatings thicknesses have been achieved throughout the substrate, a Dewpoint Meter to assess the atmospheric conditions prior to application, a Steel Temperature Gauge and a Steel Profile Gauge are also used to assist in the pre-paint inspections.

The painters have worked for over 12 months on the bridge and are expecting to have applied over 50,000 litres of paint to the bridge. The blast team can boast equally daunting figures to show their commitment to completion, they state that 2,700 tons of abrasive have been used in order to achieve the companies SA2½ standard. Due to the size of the operations carried out, Health and Safety and Environmental protection were always at the forefront of the mind of all contractors on site. T.I. Protective Coatings sub-contracted the installation of the encapsulation in order that we could utilize the properties of the Envirowrap system to aid in the protection of the surrounding environment and the fragile ecology found in the River Wear.
The bridge required 33,000 m² of Envirowrap’s sheeting and due to the rapid progress of all operations on the bridge they had their own employees stationed on-site for the duration of the contract.

The entire project was a valuable experience for T.I. Protective Coatings; many lessons were learned through the experiences Queen Alexandra gave to every individual member of our team. It directly led to the development and implementation of many of our current procedures. Which have been applauded by numerous auditors monitoring our management systems and all on-site auditors assessing Health and Safety, Quality control and the Environmental Protection systems deployed on the project. These processes will remain in place for future projects and through the continual development our SQE team strives for we are looking forward to a bright and colourful future, inspired by this great monument of the people of Sunderland and a job to stand the test of time within the memories of all who worked on it.