Decision details

Approval is requested to appoint Pennys Group Limited (reg 1195918) for the demolition of Windsor Road Pipe Bridge.

Windsor Road Pipe bridge is located at 51.384039, -2.381415 and is found immediately West of Windsor Road highway bridge located on Windsor Bridge Road, Bath.

Bath Riverside is the largest residential allocation in central Bath. The development site is being delivered in two phases. Phase 1 has recently been completed and was part-funded by the Council to facilitate the delivery of 854 homes within the 2284 home masterplan. Phase 2, known as Bath Western Riverside (BWR) is situated to the West on the adjacent former gas works site.
As part of the Phase 2 Enabling Works, the Council has appointed Wales and West Utilities (WWU) to undertake gas rationalisation works to decommission all existing gas infrastructure within to the site and to install new gas pipelines at the perimeter of the site running north south along Windsor Bridge Road. The newly installed gas infrastructure became operational in February 2022 running parallel with Windsor Bridge Road and spans the river on the underside of the Windsor Road highway bridge.

The Windsor Bridge Road Pipe Bridge, which originally carried the gas infrastructure is now redundant and given its poor condition is to be demolished.
Planning approval for demolition has been granted under 22/01093/REG03
An Open Tender procurement exercise was undertaken between the 16th March 2023 and the 30th March 2023 which concluded with Pennys Group Limited being the preferred contactor.

Approval is requested to appoint Pennys Group Limited for the demolition of Windsor Road Pipe Bridge.

Option 1 - Alternative options included retaining the bridge and undertaking major maintenance. This option was discounted due to:
the poor condition of the bridge and the high cost of maintenance.
the bridge is now being obsolete and redundant in infrastructure terms.