Historical Overview

Tate Modern is a unique combination of Power and Art spanning the Millennium.

January 2001-CLOSED -The Millennium Bridge linking Blackfriars to Bankside. A modern engineering masterpiece or a 'Bridge Too Far?'.

What was a bold idea to guide visitors from St. Pauls Cathedral, across the Thames, to Bankside (now Tate Modern) was disappointingly executed. The new bridge, nicknamed the 'wobbly bridge' because of its tendency to sway when people walked over it, was only open for a short while during 2000.  

Following an international competition in December 1996, a team of designers and engineers was appointed to construct a new bridge across the Thames.

Client

• London Borough of Southwark
• London Millennium Bridge Trust

Design Team

• Architects and Designers-Foster and Partners
• Sculptor-Sir Anthony Caro-Barford Sculptures Ltd
• Quantity Surveyors-Davis Langdon & Everest

Engineers

• Arup [www.arup.com/MillenniumBridge/]
• Arup's other projects include the BT Tower lifts.

The bridge was opened on 10th June 2000, but due to excessive swaying, caused by the footfalls of  large numbers of pedestrians walking across, it was closed on 12th June.

As a result of this, Arup set to work with engineers from the Universities of Southampton, Sheffield and London and architects of the Millennium Bridge, Foster and Partners, to find a solution.

By late 2000, Arup had installed a prototype damping system to limit movement of the bridge. This comprised of

• four chevrons
• two viscous dampers
• one tuned mass damper.

This was tested and proved to eliminate the excessive lateral movement, thus making the bridge comfortable for all to use. The full solution was expected to take six months to install and the bridge was due to open for the Summer of 2001.

In practice, the bridge did not re-open until the 22nd February 2002.