The Lossiemouth Bridge is a long-awaited replacement footbridge over the River Lossie connecting the town of Moray with the East beach of Lossiemouth. The Scottish government-funded the highly anticipated metal bridge and replaced a 100-year-old timber footbridge that finally closed in 2019 for safety concerns. The bridge serves as the main route to the popular tourist beach and stimulates the region's economy. However, with the bridge's inaccessibility, the local businesses reported massive declines as the bridge averaged 4,000 visitors in the summer.
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The bridge contract was awarded to Shrewsbury-based Beaver Bridges in 2021, who created the arched steel crossing design. Unova Paint Products describes, “The bridge has been constructed with 1.4m high parapets, joined by 3.5m wide wood-effect composite decking boards, and has a planned asset life of over 100 years. Vital to the project will be the fluoropolymer coating system, when considering the particularly harsh tidal environment the bridge is situated in.”
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Unova Products further interviewed Luke Jenkins, Senior Engineer at Beaver Bridges, who explained, “durability is a crucial point in the project. And the key to it will be the fluoropolymer paint system applied to the steel structure. I believe this coating will become standard in the near future – more and more projects are adopting it. With a predicted life of up to 60 years, the paint system should ensure a highly durable structure and make ongoing maintenance extremely economical”.
The high-performance coatings system utilized on the bridge is A&I Coatings' Vitreflon fluoropolymer system. Utilizing Lumiflon's highly durable FEVE fluoropolymer resin, this system, as Unova describes, “offers up to three times the durability of traditional paints – bringing about a considerable reduction in the costs, waste, and carbon emissions involved in repainting and maintenance. In addition, while traditional paints have a design life of 20-25 years, fluoropolymer top-coated paint systems can last up to 60 years to major maintenance.”
information courtesy of Unova Paint Products UK
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Categories Bridges