"The HUB" concept is a solution to the challenge proposed by the British group of the International Asociation of Bridges and Structural Engineering – IABSE through the Young Designers Contest of the Future of Design – London 2020 event. The judges awarded the winning prize to group 13, composed by our two partners Ruben Rodríguez Rodríguez and Lucas Canzobre Castelo, in collaboration with Raúl Espasandín Lacalle (AECOM), sharing the prize with the proposal of group 10.

Group 13 proposal aimed to solve the requirements established on the contest brief. On this brief, start and end levels of the footbridge were set, minimum headroom for road and railway clearance envelope, tube tunnel position to avoid placing pylons over them, and the necessity to enable access for the car park and shopping mall at both ends of the footbridge and train and tube stations under the footbridge level.

A composite footbridge is proposed, with a steel box girder and reinforced concrete central pier. We seek to optimize and reduce bending moments on the pile cap by adjusting the inclination of the piles. With this strategy, we reach a reduction of the main spans, increasing footbridge slenderness. To reduce the amount of material used on the piles a central hole is opened on them, allowing them to fit the access stairs through them, reducing visual impact. By splitting the steel box girder into three parts, the construction sequence is simplified, reducing the affection to the railway and roads under the footbridge. The Deck section is reinforced with an upper slab of reinforced concrete on top of the steel box girder along the footbridge and another reinforced concrete slab on the lower part of the steel box girder on the pier proximities to address negative bending moments.

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