In no time a full-fledged temporary (publicly accessible) bridge

An article by Gigant Temporary Infrastructures should not be missing from this GWW bridge special, even if they are a bit of an oddity within bridge construction. In fact, Gigant Temporary Infrastructures, the name says it all, specializes in supplying and building temporary bridge structures. "Our solutions ensure that the public or construction workers can get to where they need to be, in a safe and responsible manner," says Raymond van Noort of Gigant International BV.

Gigant's origins are in stage and event construction. When our projects in the event industry went from 600 to almost zero in 2020 due to the pandemic, we put an extra focus on infra and construction projects. Our modular systems lend themselves perfectly to this, we are one of the largest platform suppliers in the Benelux and we have almost 40 years of experience in designing, constructing and building professional temporary infrastructures for the public sector."

Fast and safe and with large spans

With the highly reliable Layher-Allround system and with products developed in-house (TÜV certified), Gigant realizes temporary safe infrastructures such as stairs, pedestrian and bicycle bridges, ramps and (public) floor structures such as platforms in no time. "We can act and deliver quickly thanks to our large stock. The modular system allows for smooth construction and can be placed at any location without the need for earth moving. Large spans can be achieved: if it is a bridge with free public access, we can freely span up to 22 meters. For a bridge over which only instructed members of the public cross, such as construction workers on a building project, then a lower floor load is sufficient and we can freely span up to 33 meters. Of course, we make sure that each structure meets all requirements. So ideal for construction, municipalities and at events."

Sustainable and circular

Gigant's temporary bridges -constructed mainly from steel and wood- have a long lifespan and all the elements can be reused again and again. "All our materials are brought to the site as one large construction kit. With little volume transported, we can build something huge. Once on site, we build up the structure, with virtually no waste. Quite circular and sustainable, then," Van Noort says, citing a few projects that have been realized by Gigant.

Temporary infrastructures

"On the Mol-Hasselt (B) train track near Beringen train station, a temporary bridge over a double track was built with a height of 6 meters and a free span of 22 meters. The challenge here was the accessibility of the location (all materials had to be transported by crane) and the safety requirements: after all, you have to deal with the overhead wires of the railroad line and wind suction from passing trains. We know what is expected of us and always provide an appropriate solution." The stair towers have child-friendly railings and the section above the track is sealed with sheet metal up to 1.5 meters in height for safety reasons. The technical reports on behalf of the municipality and stakeholders were also provided by Gigant. "Another major project is the special, temporary pedestrian bridge over the enormous 15-meter-deep construction pit during the construction of the RTBF's new building in Brussels. The temporary bridge serves as an escape route for the adjacent nursing home, is over 2 meters wide and has a free span of almost 27 meters with a minimal support surface. Normally we work with large support pillars, but here the bridge could rest on a concrete crown beam only 80 cm wide on one side of the construction pit," says Van Noort, who emphasizes that the whole thing was built in just two days. "You see: whether it's a 2-meter bridge over a ditch or a mega construction: we always offer a solution and make inaccessible places accessible."