New Bridge in Gothenburg, Sweden

The City of Göteborg is currently inviting submissions for prequalification for the Project Competition – design for a new bridge over the Göta River. Up until 16 May teams of architects, design engineers and lighting designers can submit references and reference projects in order to qualify for the competition.

“We are looking for a creative team that can come up with a design for Hisingsbron. The bridge is to be a symbol of Gothenburg, representing both its history and its future,” says city architect Björn Siesjö, chairman of the jury.

The aim for the new bridge is for central Gothenburg to be developed on both sides of the river and for easy access for all to link together the City’s different districts.

“The bridge design has to be based on the fact that it is an important link in Gothenburg’s traffic system. It must be built to last 100 years, and it must be possible to develop it so it works well for both traffic today and in the future,” says Patrik Fridh, project manager for Hisingsbron at the Traffic and Public Transport Authority.

To start with, by 2020 at least 80,000 public transport users, 3,000 cyclists, 5,000 pedestrians and 30,000 drivers will be using the bridge on a daily basis.

Up to five teams will be selected to take part in the Project Competition – the design for a new bridge over the Göta River. Teams going on to take part in the project competition will be named in June. The competition brief is to present a proposal for a functional and aesthetic bridge over the river that is feasible and has development potential. Entries for the competition must be submitted by the end of October. After that, the results of the teams’ work will be evaluated by the jury. Our plan is for the winning proposal to be presented at the end of 2013.

For further information, please contact:

• Patrik Fridh, Hisingsbron Project Manager, City of Gothenburg Traffic and Public Transport Authority +46 (0)31-368 25 79
• Eva Rhodin, Infra Communications Officer, City of Gothenburg Traffic and Public Transport Authority +46 (0)705-16 65 62
• Lena Johansson, Information Manager, City of Gothenburg Traffic and Public Transport Authority +46 (0)703-43 12 55

Background

The new Hisingsbron bridge is expected to be ready for operation by 2020. The total construction time planned for the project is 5 years. A consultation programme was circulated in the autumn of 2009. In this, various alternative links were discussed. Following consultation the Planning and Building Committee decided in March 2010 to recommend that the City Council advocate an averagely high bridge (10-13 m above the mean water level) as an extension to Stadstjänaregatan, just upstream of the existing Göta bridge. The City Council made a decision concerning the new position on 6 May 2010. The Traffic Committee decided in June 2012 that the proposed new bridge should have a height of 13 metres.

Competition jury

The competition entries will be judged by a jury appointed by the City of Gothenburg, consisting of:

• Björn Siesjö, City Architect, City Planning Authority – chairman
• Anders Svensson, Architect, City Planning Authority and the RiverCity Gothenburg project
• Filip Siewertz, Planning Architect, City Planning Authority
• Patrik Fridh, Project Manager, Traffic and Public Transport Authority
• Peter Fjällhed, Project Manager, Traffic and Public Transport Authority
• Helena Bjarnegård, City Gardener, Parks and Landscape Administration
• Thomas Darholm, Bridge Engineer, COWI
• Gunilla Bandolin, Artist, appointed by the Swedish Association of Architects
• Carola Wingren, Landscape Architect, appointed by the Swedish Association of Architects
• The competition jury secretary is Claes Larsson, Swedish Association of Architects.