Everything you need to know about Sunderland's Northern Spire bridge - and how you can help it win a major international award

The Northern Spire needs your help.
The Northern Spire bridgeThe Northern Spire bridge
The Northern Spire bridge

The landmark cable-stayed bridge is one of 10 projects from around the world shortlisted for the ICE People's Choice Awards 2019, a prestigious industry award that recognises the top engineering project of the year.

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Northern Spire will go head to head in a public vote against nine others, including projects from Hong Kong and New York, in the competition organised by the Institution of Civil Engineers.

What you need to know about bridgeNorthern Spire's central pylon is 105m high (almost 350 feet) - that's taller than the Big Ben clock tower.

The 336m-long bridge links Castletown on the north side of the river to Pallion on the south side.

The project cost £117million - £82.5 million from the Government and £35.1 million from Sunderland City Council – and was brought in under budget.

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Around 2,000 people worked on the project, many of them local, and 2,200 schoolchildren visited site during its construction.

The bridge took around 900,000 hours to complete.

Make your votes now!

Council Leader, Coun Graeme Miller, said: "Northern Spire has really captured people's imagination and I would encourage everyone who has the chance to do so to vote for it in the ICE People's Choice Awards.

"In the last 18 months the bridge has seen a visit from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, played host to Strictly Come Dancing's Faye Tozer and Giovanni Pernice dancing across it, attracted thousands of pedestrians to an open day and become a firm favourite with the region's photographers.

"It is also a vital transport link used by an average 11,000 - 12,000 vehicles a day - that's 4.3 million since it opened in August last year.

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"But as much as anything, it's symbolic of the city's confidence and get up and go with its soaring central pylon visible for miles around and I think it would be a worthy winner of the People's Choice award."

Voting closes on Saturday, September 28, and the winner will be announced on Tuesday, November 12.To vote for Northern Spire, visit: https://www.ice.org.uk/what-is-civil-engineering/what-do-civil-engineers-do/northern-spire