Bridge-building

The world's first rotating bridge - the £18.6 million Gateshead Millennium Bridge - has been installed over the river Tyne thanks to some innovative concrete technology from Tarmac Northern. The company's Gateshead plant supplied thousands of cubic metres of high-strength concrete, the majority designed for underwater use, for the construction of the foundations of the 850-tonne bridge.

The supporting piles were poured four at a time, using around 150m3 of concrete. Two major continuous pours of 850m3 each were needed to plug the coffer-dam base, and a further six bases of around 600m3 were also poured using a high-strength concrete specifically designed to reduce heat, preventing any cracking of the bases.

Completed in November, the imposing new structure links the newly revived Newcastle Quayside area with Gateshead Quays on the south bank.