Bridging railway history: Bridge No. 3 Gaunless Bridge

Niall McKay

Niall McKay is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and professional head of civils and structures operations and maintenance at AtkinsRéalis. He is the Northeast representative of the ICE Panel for Historic Engineering Works. Graduating from the University of Leeds Niall has 30 years’ experience looking after transportation bridges and other structures. He has worked on several notable structures including the Humber Bridge, Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, Edinburgh North Bridge, Tees Newport Bridge and more recently Tees Transporter Bridge.

Julian Hakes

Julian Hakes is an award-winning architect and architectural bridge designer. He has been involved in the design of landmark bridges and active travel routes for over 25 years.

Prior to joining AtkinsRéalis he ran his own bridge design team and worked on several of the UK’s millennium bridge projects and has designed bridges in USA, Europe, and Middle East. Julian is lead for architectural bridge design and special projects within AtkinsRéalis. He works closely with client and design team members to create efficient, elegant, and innovative low carbon driven response to the project brief.

David Bambridge

David is a project manager at Durham County Council, having graduated as a civil engineer at Teesside University. He has over 20 years’ experience in the transport sector working exclusively for the local authority.

His background is predominantly based in strategic traffic management and highway design across County Durham. David has recently completed the car park extension at Locomotion Museum and is currently project managing the delivery of the S&DR Active Travel Route, with Gaunless Bridge forming a major part of the associated infrastructure. Both projects fall under the Bishop Auckland Constituency LUF funding.

Bryan Harris

Bryan is a conservation planner with a varied background in the local government planning function. He has been senior conservation officer with Durham County Council since 2003, with specific responsibility for the provision of heritage and design advice across County Durham, as well as wider strategic and project related roles, primarily in the heritage regeneration field.  

Bryan has recently completed or is working on the preparation, consultation and adoption of a number of conservation area character appraisals and management plans. They either have, or will support the implementation of strategic physical regeneration and economic development priorities, within a number of major centres, including the Seaham TH, Bishop Auckland Town Deal and the Bishop Auckland Constituency LUF funding, focussed on the Stockton and Darlington Railway.