Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company

Last updated

Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company
IndustryConstruction
Founded1877 [1]
DefunctSeptember 2021 (September 2021) [2]
Headquarters Darlington
Products

Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company was a UK bridge works and structural steel contractor based in Darlington. [1] It built landmarks including the Victoria Falls Bridge in Zimbabwe; the Tees Transporter Bridge; the Forth Road and Humber suspension bridges in the UK; Hong Kong's Tsing Ma Bridge, and London's Wembley Stadium Arch. [3] [4]

Contents

Cleveland Bridge's Dubai business fabricated and erected steel structures for the Burj Al Arab and Emirates Towers. [3]

Victoria Falls Bridge Victoria Falls Bridge over Zambesi.jpg
Victoria Falls Bridge

The Darlington company went into administration in July 2021, owing £21m, and closed in September 2021. [2]

History

Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company was founded in 1877 with a capital of £10,000. The assets were sold to Charles Frederick Dixon in 1885. He registered his company on a Stock Exchange in 1893 and by 1913 there were 600 staff. [5]

In 1967, the company was acquired by The Cementation Company. [6]

Trafalgar House bought Cementation in 1970 and went on to acquire Redpath Dorman Long from Dorman Long Group in 1982. It merged the two subsidiaries in 1990 as Cleveland Structural Engineering. That business was renamed Kvaerner Cleveland Bridge following acquisition of Trafalgar House by Kværner in 1996. [1]

In 2000, the company, once again, became independent through a management buyout. Management also acquired the company's Dubai subsidiary that had been established in 1978. Saudi Arabia's Al Rushaid Group provided finance to the firm which rose to an 88.5% stake by September 2002. [7] [8] [3] [1]

Decline and fall

In July 2021, Cleveland Bridge sought further funding from Al Rushaid Group and warned 220 staff of potential redundancies. The firm was reported to be on the brink of administration after contract delays. [9] [10]

Al Rushaid Group did not provide the resources; administrator FRP was appointed, and the business was put up for sale. [11] [12] Fifty three workers were made redundant. [13] Around 25 staff continued to assist FRP, and 128 staff were furloughed under the Coronavirus Jobs Retention Scheme pending restart of production. [14]

FRP was unable to find a buyer for the business and on 10 September announced it would close with the loss of a further 133 jobs. [2] They stated £12m would be required to fund the business to the end of 2021. [2] The company assets were sold off in November 2021. [15]

Controversies

2016 death and HSE fine

In 2022 Cleveland Bridge & Engineering was fined £1.5 million by the Health and Safety Executive, with a further cost judgement of £29,000 against them. An inadequately secured crane access panel gave way in a 2016 fatal fall. The fine related to four breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 leading to the death. FRP Advisory stated it was unlikely the fine or costs could be paid. [16]

Shard delays

In 2013 Cleveland Bridge was ordered to pay Severfield-Rowen plc £824,478 compensation for delays to their subcontract work on The Shard. The judge accepted there was a very high incidence of poor workmanship in the steelwork Cleveland Bridge delivered. Cleveland Bridge's own internal correspondence highlighted an extraordinary work overload in 2010, and Judge Akenhead concluded it had taken on more work than it had capacity. [17]

Wembley Stadium

In 2002 the company won a £60 million steelwork contract for the bowl of New Wembley Stadium. [7] Part way through construction, relationships between main contractor Multiplex and Cleveland Bridge broke down. Multiplex stripped Cleveland Bridge of their erection role, handing it to roof steelwork contractor, Hollandia. Two hundred of Cleveland Bridge's on site erection staff and subcontractors transferred to Hollandia. They subsequently went on strike and were sacked. The situation escalated when Cleveland Bridge unilaterally repudiated its remaining stadium fabrication contract. [18] [19] [20] [21]

Both sides blamed the other for extra costs; delays; poor workmanship; missing or incorrect steelwork; damaged, missing or incorrect paintwork, and the chaotic state of records and the near site stock yards. Extensive litigation ensued and Cleveland Bridge was ultimately ordered to pay Multiplex £6,154,246.79 in respect of net earlier overpayments; breach of contract, and interest. Cleveland Bridge was also ordered to pay 20% of Multiplex's legal costs. [22] [19]

It was claimed, in evidence, that some Wembley steelwork had been fabricated in China for Cleveland Bridge and that it had ended up being diverted to the Beijing National Stadium. [19]

Mr Justice Jackson's 2008 judgement in the Technology and Construction Court was highly critical of both parties unwillingness to settle earlier in such an expensive case where the core evidence extended to over 500 lever arch files, and photocopying costs alone were £1 million. He highlighted the large number of items at dispute where the sums involved were substantially exceeded by the legal costs involved in resolving them. [19]

Notable bridges

BridgeLocationYearTotal lengthImageRef
ft m
Ramsey Harbour Swing Bridge Isle of Man1892420130
Ramsey harbour swing bridge - geograph.org.uk - 1108607.jpg
[23]
Victoria Falls Bridge Zim­babwe1905650200
Puente de las cataratas Victoria, Zambia-Zimbabue, 2018-07-27, DD 10.jpg
[24]
Waibadu / Garden Bridge Shanghai1906344105
Pont Waibaidu et Pudong.jpg
[4]
King Edward VII Bridge New­castle19061,151351
King Edward VII Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, July 2015 (05).JPG
[25]
Blue Nile Road and Railway Bridge Sudan19091,837560 [26]
Victoria Bridge Hamilton1910500150
VictoriaBridgeHamilton2.jpg
[27]
Tees Trans­porter Bridge Middle­sbrough1911851259
Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge, stockton side.jpg
[28]
Goz Abu Goma Bridge Sudan19111,759536
White Nile railway swing bridge at Kosti, Sudan.jpg
[29]
Trent Bridge widening Nott­ingham192630091
TrentBridge2022.jpg
[30]
Chiswick Bridge London1933606185
Chiswick-Bridge-15-540-3.jpg
[31]
Verrugas Bridge Peru1936574175
Peru railroad steel bridge2.jpg
[32]
Howrah Bridge India19422,313705
Howrah bridge at night.jpg
[33]
Spit Bridge Sydney1958745227
Spit Bridge open.jpg
[34]
Auckland Harbour Bridge Auckland19593,3501,020
Auckland Harbour Bridge (9380408897).jpg
[35]
Tamar Bridge Saltash – Plymouth19591,099335
Tamar Bridge from train.JPG
[36]
Forth Road Bridge
(ACD)		Scotland19648,2412,512
The Forth Road Bridge (before all the trouble...) - panoramio.jpg
[37]
Severn Bridge
(ABB)		UK19665,2491,600
Old severn bridge small.jpg
[38]
Wye Bridge UK19681,340410
Wye Bridge - geograph-3877950-by-Lewis-Clarke.jpg
[38]
Bos­phorus Bridge Turkey19731,560480
Bogazici Koprusu - Aerial view.jpg
[39]
Rio–Niterói Bridge Brazil197443,60213,290
Ilha de Mocangue by Diego Baravelli (cropped).jpg
[40]
Balla­chulish Bridge Scotland1974964294
Ballachulish, above Ballachulish Bridge - geograph.org.uk - 922007.jpg
[41]
Humber Bridge Hessle19817,3002,200
Humber Bridge2.png
[42]
Kessock Bridge Inver­ness19823,4651,056
Kessockbridge.jpg
[43]
Queen Elizabeth II Bridge London19919,4232,872
Queen Elizabeth II Bridge - geograph.org.uk - 122668.jpg
[44]
Tsing Ma Bridge Hong Kong19974,5181,377
Tsing Ma Bridge 2.jpg
[45]
Jiangyin Yangtze River Bridge Jiangsu19994,5441,385
Jiangyin Yangtze River bridge-2.jpeg
[46]
New Carquinez Bridge San Fran­cisco20033,4651,056
Alfred zampa memorial bridge.jpg
[47]
Rio–Antirrio Bridge Gulf of Corinth20049,4502,880
Rio-Antirio bridge.jpg
[48]
Wembley Stadium Arch London20051,033315
Wembley Stadium, illuminated.jpg
[49]
Infinity Bridge Stockton on Tees2009787240
Infinity Bridge in Stockton.jpg
[50]
Twin Sails Bridge Poole2012456139
Twin sails bridge.jpg
[51]

See also

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References

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  2. 1 2 3 4 Morby, Aaron (10 September 2021). "Cleveland Bridge to close as hunt for buyer fails". Construction Enquirer. Archived from the original on 9 September 2021. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 "CBEME Profile" (PDF). Cleveland Bridge CBEME. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 April 2022. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  4. 1 2 Ellison, M.H. (27 May 2003). "Wayback Machine - Newcastle University - A to Z Cleveland Bridge Structures". Archived from the original on 27 May 2003. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  5. ↑ "Cleveland Bridge and Engineering Co - Graces Guide". Graces Guide. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
  6. ↑ O'Driscoll, Dick. 100 Years of Cementation (PDF). Skanska. p. 45. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 December 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  7. 1 2 Buying into Success - Al Rushaid Investment Group Increases Stake in Cleveland Bridge Group, clevelandbridge.com, September 2002, archived from the original on 21 November 2003
  8. ↑ Cleveland Group Receives Substantial Investment from Al Rushaid, clevelandbridge.com, 21 September 2000, archived from the original on 27 September 2001
  9. ↑ Morby, Aaron (22 July 2021). "Cleveland Bridge heads for administration". Construction Enquirer. Archived from the original on 22 July 2021. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  10. ↑ "Cleveland Bridge on brink of collapse". The Construction Index. 22 July 2021. Archived from the original on 22 July 2021. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
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  12. ↑ "'Flagbearer' Cleveland Bridge put up for sale". The Construction Index. 23 July 2021. Archived from the original on 23 July 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
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  17. ↑ "Thirsk firm wins £800,000 from rival". Darlington and Stockton Times. 9 January 2013. Archived from the original on 2 June 2022. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
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  26. ↑ "Blue Nile Road and Railway Bridge". Structurae database. Archived from the original on 1 September 2016. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
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  30. ↑ Labrum, E. A. (1993). Civil engineering heritage, eastern and central England. Thomas Telford. ISBN   978-0727719706.
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  34. ↑ "Model of Spit Bridge in Sydney". Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 18 September 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  35. ↑ Engineering to 1990. Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand, Engineering Publications Co. p. 11.
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  37. ↑ "Forth Road Bridge". The Three Bridges. Archived from the original on 18 September 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  38. 1 2 "M4 River Severn Crossings". The Motorway Archive. Archived from the original on 8 October 2007. Retrieved 26 October 2007.
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  41. ↑ "Ballachulish Bridge". Canmore. Archived from the original on 18 September 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  42. ↑ "Cleveland Bridge wins major contract to refurbish Humber Bridge". Gazette Live. 12 March 2019. Archived from the original on 18 September 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  43. ↑ "Kessock Bridge opens in 1982". Inverness Courier. 30 October 2017. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  44. ↑ "Queen Elizabeth II Bridge". Engineering Timelines. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  45. ↑ Wallis, Keith (25 October 1994). "Tsing Ma milestone reached". South China Morning Post. p. 4.
  46. ↑ "Jiangyin Yangtze River Bridge". Structurae. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
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  48. ↑ "Rion-Antirion Bridge". Structurae. Archived from the original on 2 April 2019. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
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  51. ↑ "Echo visits North East workers making our bridge". Bournemouth Echo. 19 January 2011. Archived from the original on 18 September 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
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