Dublin city council has admitted that a landmark bridge across the River Liffey has been delayed because of serious fabrication problems. The Blackhall Place bridge is being designed by Santiago Calatrava, one of the world's leading bridge-builders, and is being welded together at Harland & Wolff. The Belfast shipyard denied last week that it has clashed with Calatrava over how the bridge should be put together. The difficulties emerged following a visit to the shipyard three weeks ago by architectural students from Queen's University, Belfast. An engineer involved in the bridge project allegedly told the students that serious mistakes had been made, including welding too-thick plates to too-thin ones.
