The design for the 3.4 km-long viaduct celebrates the architecture of engineering with a structure that is expressive of power, speed and function. High speed trains create substantial structural loads and the viaduct design balances onerous engineering demands with a refined and elegant design, by using crafted and faceted concrete forms.

Robust, durable and self-finished materials are specified throughout to ensure the viaduct is low maintenance and ages gracefully throughout its 120-year design life.

Sustainability Case Study →

Structural spans and pier forms respond to the changing landscape of the Colne Valley. Where the viaduct crosses lakes, 80 m structural spans form a rhythmic sequence of low, slender arcs that skim lightly over the surface, preserving landscape views across the water.

In woodland areas, where more restricted views of the viaduct are experienced from nearby footpaths, shorter spans maximise headroom beneath the structure while the use of patterns and texture provide interest at a human scale.

Acoustic barriers run the full length of the viaduct to protect local communities and the parkland environment from train noise. Where possible, innovative transparent barriers reduce the apparent scale of the viaduct experienced at ground level, whilst providing daylight and views for passengers between two long tunnels at each end of the valley.

The 4m high barriers have been designed to appear as light as possible, clearly subsidiary to the main structure and fully integrated with the overall design.

In 2024 the viaduct received the Engineering Award at the Royal Fine Art Commission Trust Building Beauty Awards.

‘The Colne Valley Viaduct is a tour de force, a project of such scale and ambition that it attracts superlatives. We have at last built a longer viaduct than the Victorians.’

‘For such a massive object it treads lightly and moves delicately — even the expansion joints are elegant, and the decking is poised on bearings. The concrete is varied in form and treatment, with smooth surfaces set off by gentle corrugation; the acoustic wings attached to the sides of the bridge are, appropriately, light and airy. There is nothing gratuitous or pedestrian here, no applied ornament. The ornament is the structure itself.’

‘The result is a breathtaking composition, its drama enhanced by its curving form as it crosses the lakes, the curve of the whole picking up the curves of the individual arches, and then each curve reflected in the water. The composition is full of such delicately expressive moments. But it is also muscular: it sees scale, strength and power as things to be celebrated, not mitigated or tamed… We need work as fine as this.’ — said Paul Finch, Building Beauty Awards judge.