Penrith City Council has endorsed a design for the Nepean River Green Bridge that the Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) previously ruled out as an option due to construction costs.
Councillors have thrown their support behind a truss bridge designed by Ki Studio, which minimises impact on the Nepean River rowing course and has plenty of social space for visitors.
After public disquiet about the designs put forward by the Roads and Maritime Services, Council employed GM Urban Design and Architecture to review all of the possibilities originally submitted for the Green Bridge as part of a design competition earlier this year.
The independent reviewers found that the Ki Studio design: “offers a strong response to the design of the Victoria Bridge and interpretation of its history… its sense of fun and event is excellent”.
“As a Council we should be very happy that this is progressing, the Ki design is certainly far better than the alternatives,” Cr Ross Fowler stated.
Director of Ki Studio, Miguel Wuestmann, said that the bridge was designed to be an attraction in itself, a design that would be iconic.
“We chose a truss design because it is comparatively cheaper so that additional funds could be spent on the social aspects of the bridge such as viewing platforms,” he said.
But the only hurdle will be the cost of the bridge. According to Mr Wuestmann, the original bridge design had a rough, preliminary costing “in the high 20’s [million dollars]” but the State Government has a strict budget of $20 million.
The Weekender understands that the concept design has gone through value engineering exercises to reduce the cost of the concept.
MP for Penrith, Stuart Ayres, has welcomed the Ki Studio design endorsement: “I thank Council for their contribution to the steering group and their unanimous support for the [bridge]”.
