09/05/2000
The Queen Inaugurates the Millennium Bridge
The Queen has officially inaugurated London's new Millennium Bridge at a ceremony of dedication today, Tuesday 9 May at 12.30pm.
The ceremony was preceded by a service in St Paul's Cathedral attended by The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Bishops of London and Southwark, together with the Lord Mayor of London and the Mayor of Southwark whose boroughs are linked by the new Bridge.
After the service The Queen took part in a ceremony of dedication to mark the creation of the first new crossing over the Thames in central London since Tower Bridge opened in 1894. The ceremony was accompanied by banners, specially-commissioned fanfares, a fleet of Thames cutters rowing in formation under the Bridge, a barge bearing musicians from the Guildhall School of Music and the City of London Boys School, a steel band from Southwark and the ringing of the bells of St Paul's.
The Millennium Bridge will open to the public in June 2000. The 350 metre-long pedestrian bridge will link the City and St Paul's cathedral, on the north bank of the Thames, with Tate Modern, the new gallery of modern art on the south bank.
Foster and Partners' 'blade'-like design has been developed in close collaboration with sculptor Sir Anthony Caro and engineers Arup. Formed by a single sweeping arc, it will appear as a thin ribbon of steel by day and, illuminated at night, as a shining blade of light across the river.
A very shallow suspension bridge, the design relies on the latest in structural technology. Eight cables, four on either side of the deck, dip just 2.3 metres over the 144 metre central span. The cables are anchored at each end in concrete abutments and supported at two points in the river by concrete elliptical piers. Steel transverse arms support the light-weight deck by clamping onto the cables at 8 metre intervals. This structure is exposed on the underside where it forms a delicate lattice across the soffit.
Free of traffic and accessible to everyone, 24 hours a day, it is estimated that 4 million people will use the bridge to cross the Thames each year. As well as being a vital piece of pedestrian infrastructure, it will create a place for Londoners and visitors to promenade and enjoy unrivalled views of the capital. In conjunction with Tate Modern, the Millennium Bridge is a key element in the regeneration of the south London borough of Southwark - one of London's poorest boroughs. It will also bring a new lease of life to the underused riverside next to St Paul's.
The design team won the commission for the bridge following an international competition - one of the most popular ever run by the Royal Institute of British Architects.
A Millennium Commission project, the Bridge is also generously funded by the Corporation of London, through the Bridge House Estates, HSBC, the Cross River Partnership and a number of private donors. Southwark Council has managed the construction of the Bridge in association with the Millennium Bridge Trust.
Projects:
Millennium Bridge
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