Northern Spire is the result of an innovative three-year construction programme that saw 2,000 people work more than a million hours to build the impressive crossing, which is now the tallest structure in North East England.

Sunderland Strategic Transport Corridor (SSTC) is a major infrastructure Project that will open up and link major regeneration sites within the City. Sunderland suffers from significant traffic congestion, particularly at, and around, existing river crossings, which will be exacerbated by the proposed regeneration of a number of sites that have been identified for development.

The SSTC program has been split into a number of discrete delivery phases. Phase II of the project involves the design and construction of a new crossing over the river Wear and associated highways to link in with the existing network.

SECO’s Assignment

Atkins have been engaged by Sunderland City Council to supervise the works.
In the scope of Atkins’ assignment, SECO provided specialist inspectors to cover fabrication and painting of the main bridge steelwork, that were mainly done at Victor Buyck’s facilities in Belgium.

SECO’s Intervention

SECO inspected and audited the fabrication works for the New Wear Crossing reviewing progress and quality.
Inspection and auditing works included:

• Review of material certificates (both steel and filler materials for welding)
• Review of traceability
• Review of welder certificates
• Review of welding procedures (WPS and PQR)
• Review of visual inspection certificates
• Review of NDT reports
• Review of fabrication release notes
• Review of NCR registration
• Witnessing reference areas for painting (3 different systems)
• Review of paint reports
• Visual inspection of the fabrication and painting work in conjunction with the Bridge Supervisor on a monthly basis.

SECO's partners : 

Project Owner : Sunderland City

Architect : 

Structural Engineer :