The UK’s incredible new £1.6bn bridge that’s winning awards for how beautiful it is

The Colne Valley viaduct received the Building Beauty grant from the Royal Fine Art Commission (Image: HS2 Ltd)

A record-breaking viaduct constructed for the HS2 obstruction enactment has received a reward from the Royal Fine Art Commission for its charismatic appearance.

The Colne Valley viaduct , which has outgo £1.6billion to build, received the 3rd yearly Building Beauty grant from the trust, which recognises stylish and awesome engineering skills connected a wide scope of operation projects.

The squad of judges noted that the new viaduct offers a pleasant opposition from the Korda Lake it travels over, acknowledgment successful portion to its galore curves and angles.

They explained: "For specified a monolithic object, it treads lightly and moves delicately - adjacent the enlargement joints are elegant, and the decking is poised connected bearings.

"There is thing gratuitous oregon pedestrian here, nary applied ornament. The ornament is the operation itself. The effect is simply a breath-taking composition, its play enhanced by its curving signifier arsenic it crosses the lakes, the curve of the full picking up the curves of the idiosyncratic arches, and past each curve reflected successful the water."

The task took much than 2 years to construct, with galore parts made on-site (Image: Getty)

Spanning the two-mile region betwixt Hillingdon and the M25 connected the outskirts of London, the Colne Valley viaduct is the longest railway span successful the UK, replacing the Forth Bridge successful Scotland.

Constructed betwixt May 2022 and September 2024, the viaduct passes respective lakes, the River Colne, and the Grand Union Canal, successful summation to the greenish spaces offered by the valley.

The viaduct includes 54 arches of up to 80 metres successful bid to support it rigid and a fig of unsocial platform segments which were constructed connected site.

Some person estimated 500 operation projects are required for the HS2 task (Image: Getty)

Loïc Menard, Align Project Designer, highlighted his hopes that the viaduct volition go 1 of the astir iconic elements of the HS2 project.

He added: "We are delighted to triumph Engineering Award for the plan and operation of the viaduct, which has been a immense method situation for everyone involved.

"Once the stunning plan was finalised the situation was to get it built, and immense recognition should spell to each the antithetic teams progressive wrong Align, moving with our galore proviso concatenation partners. This is an grant for everyone connected the project, gathering what I person nary uncertainty volition beryllium the astir iconic diagnostic of HS2."

The Colne Valley viaduct is conscionable 1 of the galore caller bridges required for the HS2 obstruction enactment project, with immoderate estimating much than 500 gathering structures volition beryllium needed

During Phase One of the line, 140 miles of way and 4 stations volition beryllium constructed, taking the enactment from Birmingham to London successful nether 50 minutes.

Nevertheless, it volition inactive beryllium a agelong clip earlier Brits tin hop connected the 225mph trains, with the archetypal journeys not owed to instrumentality spot until betwixt 2029 and 2033.