BladeBridge (Re-Wind Network) - Turning decommissioned wind turbine blades into urban furniture
Cork (Ireland) · United Kingdom · 2022 · BladeBridge Ltd. — engineering start-up in Cork, Ireland (founded 2022, spin-out of the Re-Wind Network).
BladeBridge delivered Ireland’s first (and Northern Ireland’s) pedestrian bridges built from repurposed wind turbine blades, validating in real municipal infrastructure a method that had previously existed only as a single research prototype in Poland (2021). The company converts a fast-growing, largely unsolved waste stream — glass-fibre composite blades — into permanent public assets instead of landfill or costly chemical recycling. Within roughly two years of incorporation, BladeBridge diversified from a single bridge demonstrator into an eight-plus project furniture catalogue procured by Irish local authorities (Cork, Mayo, South Dublin, Clare), showing the model can move from one-off prototype to a repeatable municipal product line. The model has also begun to influence procurement and policy: adoption by county councils and semi-state energy companies (Energia Group) shows it being written into real greenway, biodiversity and enterprise-development tenders, including a national Circular Economy Innovation Grant-funded bridge project with Clare Local Development Company for the Cliffs of Moher trail. The underlying Re-Wind Network research continues to expand potential applications (transmission poles, affordable-housing components, roofing) and to disseminate findings internationally — for example, presented at the SEMC 2025 structural engineering conference in Cape Town, South Africa — extending the model’s relevance beyond its current European and North American base, though no built projects outside Europe/North America have been identified to date.
Highlight
An engineering spin-out proving that one of the hardest industrial materials to recycle — thermoset composite wind turbine blades — can instead become permanent, load-bearing public infrastructure: bridges, shelters, benches and memorials that keep tonnes of glass fibre out of landfill for decades, with no conventional recycling process required at all.
Extended description
Context and problem: wind turbine blades are built from glass- or carbon-fibre-reinforced thermoset composites, engineered to withstand decades of fatigue loading and weather exposure — precisely the properties that make them extremely difficult and costly to recycle once decommissioned. The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) projects that global blade waste will grow roughly tenfold, from about 10,000 tonnes in 2025 to around 110,000 tonnes by 2030; WindEurope separately estimates that Europe's own volume will reach 55,000 tonnes per year by 2030. This has driven the European wind sector’s self-imposed ban on landfilling blades from 1 January 2026 and “zero blade to landfill” pledges for 2030 by major turbine manufacturers. Chemical or mechanical recycling of thermoset composite remains expensive (roughly USD 1,000–2,000 per tonne versus USD 60–150 per tonne for landfill where still permitted) and is not yet commercially available at scale. Structural reuse — keeping the blade intact and exploiting its native strength rather than breaking it down — sidesteps this cost and technology gap entirely.
How it works: starting in 2016–2017, Re-Wind Network researchers at Georgia Tech, University College Cork (UCC), Queen’s University Belfast, the City University of New York (CUNY) and Munster Technological University (MTU), spent nearly a decade testing decommissioned blades from multiple manufacturers (GE, LM Wind Power, Nordex, Bonus, Vestas) to characterise their residual mechanical strength, and developed blind-bolted steel connections and load paths that let a blade function as a bridge girder, transmission pole, or roof or wall element. In December 2022, three of these researchers — Dr Angie Nagle, Kieran Ruane and Dr Paul Leahy — incorporated BladeBridge Ltd as a commercial spin-out to bring the designs to market in Ireland, later joined by industrial designer Simon Dennehy as Chief Creative Officer.
Products and process: BladeBridge sources decommissioned blades directly from wind farm operators and developers — for example, LM13.4 blades from Nordex N29 turbines donated by Everun Ltd. for the Cork and Draperstown bridges, a Bonus B39 blade from Barnesmore Wind Farm (Donegal) for the Achill Sound shelters, and blades from Energia Group’s Meenadreen Wind Farm for a memorial and trail-seating feature. Blades are cut and finished, then fitted with steel or timber decking, viewing windows, bike racks or planting troughs, and installed on site. Two structural bridges have been delivered to date: the 5.5-metre “Fitzfiddler’s Bridge” on the Midleton-Youghal Greenway in Cork (installed in January 2022, using two LM13.4 blades as girders — the first of its kind in Ireland and the second in the world after a 2021 Polish prototype), and a 5.8–6-metre bridge in a quarry in Draperstown, Northern Ireland (built and load-tested in 2023). Beyond bridges, BladeBridge’s expanding “Sustainable Products” line converts full 20-metre blades into combined bike-shelter/picnic-table structures — the root section becomes the main upright and bike parking, the mid-blade section becomes roof panels, and the tip sections frame windows and form bench legs. These were delivered for Mayo County Council’s Achill Sound and Achill Greenway sites (2023 and 2025). The catalogue also includes benches, wheelchair-accessible planters, lecterns, memorials and e-bike charging hubs supplied to South Dublin County Council, Clare Local Development Company, Energia Group and the Dutch Embassy in Dublin.
Stakeholders: local authorities and greenway agencies (Cork County Council, Mayo County Council, South Dublin County Council, Clare Local Development Company), wind farm operators and material donors (Everun Ltd., Energia Group), university partners (MTU, UCC, Georgia Tech, Queen’s University Belfast, CUNY), and public funders (Enterprise Ireland New Frontiers programme, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), a national Circular Economy Innovation Grant, Local Enterprise Office support).
Demonstrated metrics
Fitzfiddler’s Bridge, Cork (installed January 2022): 5.5 m span, built from two repurposed LM13.4 (Nordex N29) blades; reported 18% reduction in embodied carbon versus a conventional steel/concrete girder bridge.
Draperstown Bridge, Northern Ireland (constructed and load-tested 2023): 5.8–6 m span x 2 m width, two LM13.4 blades; built for £10,808 excluding design and testing; withstood a 33-tonne ultimate load test with only 9 mm of mid-span deflection (Queen’s University Belfast full-scale testing).
Achill Sound Shelters, Co. Mayo (2025): two bike-parking/picnic-table shelters, each built from one full 20 m Bonus B39 blade sourced from Barnesmore Wind Farm, Donegal.
Achill Greenway furniture, Co. Mayo (September 2023): three pieces commissioned by Mayo County Council — a bench with integrated bike parking, a seat/standing-table combination, and a picnic table, combining blade material with Accoya wood.
Company project portfolio (as of early 2026): at least 10 delivered public installations — 2 structural bridges plus 8+ furniture/amenity projects — across Cork, Mayo, Dublin and Donegal, three years after incorporation.
Recognition to date: Best in Cork Start-Up 2024 (overall, plus North Cork division winner 2023), UIAA International Mountain Protection Award — Best New Initiative 2023 (with Clare Local Development Company, for the Cliffs of Moher bridges project), Circular Economy Innovation Grant 2023.
Real impact
BladeBridge delivered the first pedestrian bridges in Ireland and Northern Ireland built from repurposed wind turbine blades, validating in real municipal infrastructure a method that had previously existed only as a single research prototype in Poland (2021). The company converts a fast-growing, largely unsolved waste stream — glass-fibre composite blades — into permanent public assets instead of sending it to landfill or costly chemical recycling. Within roughly two years of incorporation, BladeBridge diversified from a single bridge demonstrator into a furniture catalogue of more than eight projects procured by Irish local authorities (Cork, Mayo, South Dublin, Clare), showing the model can move from a one-off prototype to a repeatable municipal product line. The model has also begun to influence procurement and policy: adoption by county councils and semi-state energy companies (Energia Group) shows it being written into real greenway, biodiversity and enterprise-development tenders, including a a bridge project funded by a national Circular Economy Innovation Grant with Clare Local Development Company for the Cliffs of Moher trail. The underlying Re-Wind Network research continues to expand potential applications (transmission poles, affordable-housing components, roofing) and to disseminate findings internationally — for example, at the SEMC 2025 structural engineering conference in Cape Town, South Africa — extending the model’s relevance beyond its current European and North American base.
Similar cases elsewhere
Poland: Anmet and GP Renewables Group installed the world’s first wind-blade pedestrian/cycle bridge over the Szprotawa River (2021), engineering-tested with Rzeszów University of Technology.
Netherlands: Superuse Studios’ spin-off “Blade-Made” has reused around 25 decommissioned blades for the Wikado playground (Rotterdam) and public seating at Willemsplein square (nine intact rotor blades), plus further playgrounds and benches in Terneuzen and bus shelters in Almere.
Denmark: a bicycle shelter at the Port of Aalborg was built using a blade section donated by turbine manufacturer Siemens Gamesa.
Sweden: energy company Vattenfall has reused blades as structural elements in a parking garage.
United States: the Re-Wind Network’s Georgia Tech-led team built a “Monogirder BladeBridge” demonstrator in Atlanta, presented at the CAMX 2025 Composites and Advanced Materials Expo.
Sources
BladeBridge — Home: https://bladebridge.ie/