The brief
Surveys were carried out on the site of a new housing development, and dormice were found to be present in the hedgerows and adjacent woodland. We were asked to design and install a dormouse bridge to allow the dormice to move across the gap created by the development’s access road.
What we did
We constructed a dormouse bridge comprising a steel circular mesh tube wrapped in hessian and filled with hay. Using a MEWP (mobile elevated work platform) we installed the dormouse bridge over the housing development access road. It was suspended at a height of 6.5 metres to allow emergency vehicles to pass safely underneath.
The outcome
The bridge formed a link between the adjacent vegetation, creating a safe connecting route for dormice.
This was the first dormouse bridge that Thomson constructed. As there were few sources of information about how to construct the dormouse bridge, we designed it ourselves. The installation went well, and the finished product looked good. The tube allowed the two habitats to be connected for the duration of the construction.
Thomson project manager, dormouse bridge construction
