The bridge, which crosses part of a canal, was engineered by Atkins Structural Engineering design director Hayden Nuttal. It took 11 weeks to build, involving about 1,100 man-hours of work. The components are standard 12mm-wide Meccano strips, girders and bolts. In total, it uses about 100,000 pieces including 28,000 bolts. The bridge can move, with one 9m beam sliding into place like a canal lock gate and the other 12m section rolling down like a drawbridge.
Construction
Students build life-sized Meccano bridge
Students from Liverpool University in north west England have worked with Meccano enthusiasts and Atkins to create a 23m-long bridge from the model-building system. The bridge was tested on Saturday when it was crossed by TV presenter James May for series of programmes in which life-sized objects are being built from various toys including Lego.