Ghent’s urban development company (Sogent) is the principal that is offering this assignment for a permanent bicycle and pedestrian bridge over the River Lys. This bridge is part of the ‘Westerringspoor’ and lies on Ghent’s main network of cycling routes. The bridge is also the final part of the Rinkhout Path, the slow-speed connection between Maria-Hendrikaplein and the Blaarmeersen recreational park, as set down in the Regional Spatial Implementation Plan for ‘Ghent St Peter’s Station, Koningin Fabiolalaan’. On a local scale, the bridge provides access from the northern part of the station area to one of Ghent’s most important centres of recreation in a green setting.

The bridge will be a major incentive to future occupants of the flats in the adjacent Rinkkaai project, for which Sogent has appointed a private partner and for which a land division application is currently being prepared. Because it offers a direct and safe link to the Blaarmeersen recreational park, this bridge will provide important leverage for family-friendly high-rise building.

For this assignment, Sogent is looking for a design and engineering team that is sufficiently well practised to carry out the whole of the assignment, which includes creating the design and its technical realisation, drawing up the documents for the application for an urban planning permit and drawing up the tendering package, including the verification of the quotes and follow-up and inspection in the course of the works.

Sogent is putting aside a budget of 1.75 million euro for the execution of this bridge. This sum is the maximum budget and includes the layout of the surroundings at the Griendijk, Snepkaai and/or Koningin Fabiolalaan. This sum does not include the cost of the studies or the VAT.