HUGE progress has been made in dealing with the list of around 100 defects reported on Poole's Twin Sails Bridge.

“That list is down to approximately 30 and half of them are partially or fully resolved subject to final inspection,” said John Rice, Borough of Poole engineering and maintenance manager. “We have made huge progress in dealing with these issues.”

See all our pictures from behind the scenes at the Twin Sails Bridge in our gallery

And next week the outstanding problem of the valve in the hydraulic lifting system, which has slowed lifts of the triangular sails down to four minutes, is expected to be replaced.

A tour of the control room and the below-water plant room in the west pier of the £21.6million bridge underlines the complexity of the lifting bridge, its computer system and fail-safe operation.

Mr Rice pointed out that some of the “defects” listed - all of which are being rectified by contractors at no extra cost to the council - were items like missing paperwork, such as the electrical certificate for the control room, where one operator controls the lifting of the Twin Sails and Poole Bridges.

However there had been a few problems with the operating system. “Some we have been able to identify quickly what the issue us and fix it. Others have been more challenging,” he said. Re-booting the system lost fault data but now the data can be stored and accessed through a remote link.

Mechanical and electrical supervisor Rob Scott and his four-strong team of maintenance engineers have become expert in the subterranean workings of the bridge, which can be controlled from the control room, Civic Centre, or from the matching plant rooms, while a wireless engineering tablet shows exactly what is happening as the bridge lifts.

With 10 cameras on each bridge, operators have a birds-eye view of all aspects of the bridges and marine traffic and the council has forged strong links with Poole Harbour Commissioners.

Poole has a unique two lifting bridge system, and they had to write their own operating manual.

Mariners have accepted the system and residents were voting with their cars with a 25 per cent increase in traffic using the Twin Sails Bridge Sails over the past year with bus passengers increasing because of reliability, said Mr Rice.

Cllr Xena Dion, cabinet portfolio holder for transportation said: “It's an incredible feat of engineering and design. It's a bridge for the future and a bridge to be proud of. Seeing it like this it is not a surprise there are some minor things that are very largely overcome now.”

Mr Rice said: “I do understand that the breakdowns we have had have generated a lot of frustration. The message is we are getting on top of all that stuff. There is a bit more work to do. It's a fantastic bridge.”

The iconic Twin Sails Bridge has been quietly gathering awards.

The design won the infrastructure award for the south-west in the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors awards.

And clerk of works Frank Miller, who managed the project, was overall winner of the 12th annual Building on Quality awards of the Institute of Clerks of Works and Construction Inspectorate.

However the bridge missed out on another trophy, the RIBA south west awards, for which it was entered.