Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company

Cleveland Bridge UK Ltd

Type	Private company
Industry	Large scale steel structural engineering
Founded	1877
Defunct	September 2021 (September 2021)
Headquarters	Darlington, England
Key people	Chris Droogan (Managing Director)
Products	Bridges, Structures, Engineering, Manufacturing, Construction
Owner	Al Rushaid Investment Group
Website	www.clevelandbridge.com

Cleveland Bridge UK Ltd was a bridge building and structural engineering company based in Darlington, England. It has been involved in many major projects including the Victoria Falls Bridge in Zimbabwe, the Tees Transporter Bridge and the Forth Road and Humber suspension bridges in the UK, Hong Kong's Tsing Ma Bridge, and London's Wembley Stadium. Backed by a Saudi Arabian investor since 2000, Cleveland Bridge went into administration in July 2021 and, owing £21m and without a buyer, closed in September 2021.

History[]

Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company was founded in 1877 as a fabrication business. In 1967 the company was acquired by The Cementation Company^[1] which was bought by Trafalgar House in 1970.^[2]

A works was established in Dubai in 1976, and a new engineering works opened in Darlington in 1982.^[2]

In 1990 the company was merged with Redpath Dorman Long which had been acquired by Trafalgar House in 1982 from the Dorman Long group, forming Cleveland Structural Engineering. The company was renamed Kvaerner Cleveland Bridge following the acquisition of Trafalgar House by Kværner in 1996.^[2]

In mid 2000 the company became an independent entity through a £8.3million ($12.3million) management buyout; the management also acquired the company's Dubai subsidiary.^[3][4]

Victoria Falls Bridge

In late 2000 the Al Rushaid Group acquired a 50% share of the company,^[5] raising the shareholding to 88.5% in September 2002.^[6][7]

In 2002 the company won a £60 million contract for steelwork for the new Wembley Stadium.^[6] A contractual dispute between Cleveland Bridge, and its subcontractor, Hollandia, over staff led to Cleveland Bridge exiting the project in 2004, resulting in litigation between Cleveland Bridge and the main contractor Multiplex. The dispute led to delays in the completion of the Wembley project.^[8] Additionally an industrial dispute between workers transferred from Cleveland Bridge to Hollandia employment on the site led to the sacking of 200 workers, and picketing of the site.^[9][10]

Administration and closure[]

In July 2021, Cleveland Bridge sought further funding from the Al Rushaid Group and warned 220 staff of potential redundancies. It was reported to be on the brink of administration after a major Sri Lankan bridge building programme was put on hold.^[11][12] Al Rushaid Group decided not to put any more money into the business, administrator FRP was appointed, and the business was put up for sale.^[13][14] Pending a sale of the company, the administrators planned a limited resumption of production at the Darlington factory in early August 2021,^[15] while 53 workers were made redundant;^[16] around 25 staff were assisting administrator FRP; 128 staff were furloughed under the Coronavirus Jobs Retention Scheme pending the intended restart of production.^[17]

However, FRP was unable to find a buyer for the business and on 10 September announced that Cleveland Bridge would be wound down over a two-week period before closing with the loss of 133 jobs.^[18] FRP said the business owed £21.5m to 226 unsecured creditors,^[19] and that a further £12m had been required to fund the business to the end of 2021.^[20] An auction of the company's equipment and assets was scheduled for November 2021.^[21]

Bridge building[]

List of bridges constructed[]

The following is a list of some of the bridges built by Cleveland Bridge: it is not fully comprehensive.

Bridge	Location	Year	Total length		Notes	Image	Ref
			ft	m
Ramsey Harbour Swing Bridge	Ramsey, Isle of Man	1892	420	130			[22]
Victoria Falls Bridge	Zimbabwe	1905	650	200			[23]
Waibaidu Bridge (Garden Bridge)	Shanghai, China	1906	344	105			[24]
King Edward VII Bridge	Newcastle, England	1906	1,151	351			[25]
Blue Nile Road and Railway Bridge	Sudan	1909	1,837	560			[26]
Victoria Bridge	Hamilton, New Zealand	1910	500	150			[27]
Tees Transporter Bridge	Middlesbrough	1911	851	259			[28]
Goz Abu Goma Bridge	Sudan	1911	1,759	536			[29]
Trent Bridge, Nottingham	Nottingham	1926	300	91	Widening of the original bridge		[30]
Chiswick Bridge	London, England	1933	606	185			[31]
Verrugas Bridge	Peru	1936	574	175			[32]
Howrah Bridge	India	1942	2,313	705			[33]
Spit Bridge	Middle Harbour, Sydney, Australia	1958	745	227			[34]
Auckland Harbour Bridge	Auckland, New Zealand	1959	3,350	1,020			[35]
Tamar Bridge	England	1959	1,099	335			[36]
Forth Road Bridge	Scotland	1964	8,241	2,512	Part of the ACD Consortium		[37]
Severn Bridge	Severn Estuary, Wales/England	1966	5,249	1,600	Part of the ABB Consortium		[38]
Wye Bridge	Severn Estuary, Wales/England	1968	1,340	410			[38]
Bosphorus Bridge	Turkey	1973	1,560	480			[39]
Rio–Niterói Bridge	Rio, Brazil	1974	43,602	13,290			[40]
Ballachulish Bridge	Scotland	1974	964	294			[41]
Humber Bridge	Hessle, England	1981	7,300	2,200			[42]
Kessock Bridge	A9 Road, Inverness	1982	3,465	1,056			[43]
Queen Elizabeth II Bridge	A282 Road, London	1991	9,423	2,872			[44]
Tsing Ma Bridge	Hong Kong	1997	4,518	1,377			[45]
Jiangyin Yangtze River Bridge	Jiangsu Province, China.	1999	4,544	1,385			[46]
New Carquinez Bridge	San Francisco, USA.	2003	3,465	1,056			[47]
Rio–Antirrio Bridge	Gulf of Corinth, Greece.	2004	9,450	2,880			[48]
Wembley Stadium Arch	London, England	2005	1,033	315			[49]
Infinity Bridge	Stockton on Tees, England	2009	787	240			[50]
Twin Sails Bridge	Poole, England	2012	456	139			[51]

References[]

External links[]

• Official site
• Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company information at Structurae
• A to Z of bridges built by Cleveland Bridge