Painting the Forth Bridge
‘Painting the Forth Bridge’ is a popular saying used to describe a task that is never completed. The expression is based on the idea that since its opening in 1890, the Forth Bridge near Edinburgh, one of Scotland’s most recognisable landmarks, has been in a continual state of refurbishment owing to its vast size and the intricacies of its structure. While technically this is not entirely true, it does reflect the vast scale of the bridge.
At over 2,500 metres in length, made out of 53,000 tonnes of steel held together by 6.5 million rivets and supported by 92,000 cubic metres of concrete and masonry on both sides, the Forth Bridge, which spans the Firth of Forth, is one of the great feats of engineering of the late 19th century, a high point in public infrastructure projects in the British Isles.
Unlike previous maintenance efforts, the most recent major refurbishment of the bridge involved blasting off all preceding layers of older paint, conducting necessary repairs on steel structures and then repainting the entire structure using 230,000 square metres of paint, which is expected to last for between 25 and 40 years.
After suggesting I document the work, I was commissioned by Network Rail, the owners of the bridge, and by Balfour Beatty, the company tasked with its maintenance, to photograph the final stages of the process carried out by some of the 1,600 people involved in completing the most comprehensive overhaul of the bridge in its history. During the days – and numerous nights – on the scaffolds and work platforms attached to the bridge in all weathers, I met a number of the workers who gave their very own, candid insights into the work required to accomplish this feat.
