AtkinsRéalis

AtkinsRéalis | Roads & Bridges Scotland Across Scotland, we’re helping shape roads and bridges that are ready for the future. Together with our clients and partners, we combine engineering expertise with fresh thinking to make infrastructure more resilient, get more from existing assets and create lasting value. For us, effective delivery starts with understanding the bigger picture. That means bringing engineering, environmental insight, digital technology and local perspectives together to make better decisions. It also means working collaboratively to respond to challenges as they emerge and finding solutions that balance the needs of infrastructure, people and the environment. Our work on the East Airdrie Link Road for North Lanarkshire Council demonstrates that approach. We are delivering the DMRB Stage 3 Preliminary Design, Environmental Impact Assessment and Planning Application for the proposed 10km route, which will form part of the Pan Lanarkshire Orbital Corridor. Sustainability and engagement are shaping the design from an early stage. Carbon-focused design reviews at Craigens Road led to a proposed overbridge being replaced by an at-grade junction, avoiding 35,000m³ of excavation and rock blasting and saving an estimated 700 tonnes of CO₂e. Engagement with communities has also influenced the developing design, including moving the alignment at Riggend to reduce impacts on the village and redesigning proposals at Dunsyston Woods to maintain active travel connections while reducing impacts on woodland. Innovation is strengthening the evidence behind those decisions too. The project has used specially trained detection dogs to survey for protected water voles and advanced non-invasive geophysical surveys to better understand historic mine workings. Carbon is considered alongside cost and programme through our PAS 2080-aligned carbon calculator toolkit, helping the team use embodied-carbon information to support design decisions. In the heart of Edinburgh, the North Bridge Refurbishment shows how the same focus on collaboration and innovation can help give existing infrastructure a new lease of life. Working with the City of Edinburgh Council and Balfour Beatty, the team found a way to refurbish rather than replace the 130-year-old Category A Listed bridge, retaining significant elements of the original structure while reducing material consumption, waste and embodied carbon. Delivering major structural work above Waverley Station, operational roads and busy pedestrian routes has required careful engineering and collaboration. A fully suspended scaffold system enabled work above operational rail infrastructure, while specialist cast iron repair and recasting techniques helped protect important heritage elements. When unforeseen defects emerged, the client, designers, contractor and specialist supply chain worked as an integrated team to identify issues and agree solutions. Looking ahead, embedded concrete sensors, corrosion and structural health monitoring, together with a digital twin, will support a better understanding of the bridge’s condition and performance. A permanent access platform integrated within the Victorian structure will also make future inspection and maintenance safer and easier. These projects reflect how we approach infrastructure across Scotland: working together, looking beyond the immediate challenge and using engineering expertise, evidence and innovation to find better ways forward. Because this is about more than roads and bridges. It’s about safer journeys, stronger connections and thriving communities. Together, we can keep Scotland moving today and create a more resilient, sustainable network for generations to come.