Accoya wood has been used to create a unique “floating” bridge in the Dutch city of Bergen op Zoom.

Completed in 2015, the bridge spans Pielekenswater and its design was inspired by the work of Dutch military engineer Menno van Coehoorn, who built the 18th century Revelijn op den Zoom fortress in the same location.

Ro Koster and Ad Kil, of Bergen op Zoom-based RO&AD Architects, who also mastered the famous and award winning Moses Bridge in Halsteren, designed the 80m floating pedestrian bridge to allow access to the 18th century fort’s entrance. Its snake-like path mimics the journey and motion of the boats which originally travelled there.

In former days, the Ravelijn was supplied from the city with small rowing boats. The concept of the bridge is, to let the bridge follow the original track of these boats, so the bridge echoes the former route the boats followed from the city to the fortress. That is why the bridge snakes across the water to the fortress. Therefore we also made the bridge floating. An additional advantage of that is , that in winter the bridge can be pulled to the side, so there can be ice-skated around the fortress. The deck of the bridge is convex to let the bridge blend in with the water and the surroundings. No mirror image in the water and as close to the water as possible. The stairs at the jetty near the fortress can move up and down (and stay horizontal) with the water level.

The deck of the bridge, which is made entirely from Accoya wood, sits close to the water at Pielekenswater. The bridge is made completely to the principles of the Cradle to Cradle philosophy. Air-filled polyethylene pipes positioned underneath the timber surface help keep the bridge afloat, without requiring any additional structural framework.

“Accoya was the automatic choice for this project. Its strength and durability combined with its construction flexibility made it the ideal wood to work with.  Accoya’s environmental credentials are also appealing – we wanted to work with a timber which would not only deliver excellent strength and durability but was also sustainably sourced. Given Accoya’s modification process is C2C certified, the product fitted seamlessly with our principles of sustainability.”

Ro Koster, of RO&AD Architects

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