Construction of bridges is at the core of any development, whether it is roads, railways or metro rail, and selecting the right kind of formwork for these structures is crucial. Along with safety, speed of construction, ease of handling formwork material and availability of a crane are important criteria for selecting the right type of formwork.Indeed, modern bridge construction demands technologies that are faster, safe and innovative. For nearly 50 years, PERI products and systems have successfully proved themselves in the market globally, says Raj Lakhani, Managing Director, PERI (India). “With landmark projects such as Mahatma Mandir, Statue of Unity, Agra-Lucknow Expressway, Hyderabad Metro, Mumbai Metro and Bengaluru Metro using the company’s state-of-the-art formwork and scaffolding system, we have proved our mettle in delivering customised solutions for every complex need in a cost-effective manner.”A six-lane highway over Chambal River, constructed by NHAI, includes 43 piers for the bridge with a varying height of 27 m. The pier size at the bottom is 7,500 mm × 2,500 mm; at the top, it is 7,000 mm × 2,000 mm (i.e. reduction of 500 mm) semi-circular at both ends. Additionally, it has limited access to a crane as it is over a river. “Here, PERI provided a hydraulic climbing system RCS along with VARIO formwork system,” shares Lakhani. “A customised solution was provided with adaptor to climb the system.” He adds that Vijay Mistry Construction, the contractor for the project, could complete the project faster with two sets of VARIO formwork system —one set for 7,500 mm × 2,500 mm and another set for 7,000 mm × 2,000 mm size—reducing the cycle time to four days.Currently, traditional and conventional formwork methodology dominates the Indian market. “However, system formwork is designed for specified concrete pressure to ensure there is no failure during concreting activity,” explains Lakhani, adding that it offers innumerable benefits compared to conventional and traditional formwork. Designed with built-in safety features and less individual components to reduce labour efforts and improve overall efficiency, system formwork is versatile and has a longer lifespan. It can be rotated across multiple projects to achieve overall economic benefit to the customers. SHRIYAL SETHUMADHAVAN