London SE1 community website

£20m plan to light up Thames bridges: shortlisted ideas on show

London SE1 website team

Six proposals to light up the bridges across the Thames in central London are to be exhibited at the Royal Festival Hall this month.

£20m plan to light up Thames bridges: shortlisted ideas on show
Waterloo Bridge - Saluting the night (c) MRC and Diller Scofidio + Renfro
£20m plan to light up Thames bridges: shortlisted ideas on show
Cai Guo-Qiang - 'London Bridge is Falling Down' (Tower Bridge) (c) MRC and Adjaye Associates
£20m plan to light up Thames bridges: shortlisted ideas on show
Westminster Bridge (c) MRC and AL_A

Plans for The Illuminated River were first endorsed by the then Mayor of London Boris Johnson in 2014 and his successor Sadiq Khan has continued to back the scheme, which was devised by the Rothschild Foundation.

Hannah Rothschild, chair of the Illuminated River Foundation, said that the project would "turn a bleak snake of darkness into a magnificent ribbon of light" by lighting up the 17 existing and proposed bridges from Albert Bridge in the west to Tower Bridge in the east.

An international competition this summer attracted entries from 105 teams.

The six shortlisted teams were invited to work up their ideas in more detail for a public exhibition which opens at the Royal Festival Hall on Wednesday.

The winner will be announced on Thursday 8 December.

Half of the estimated £20 million cost of the project has already been raised with £5 million given by Peter Baldwin and Lisbet Rausing through the Arcadia Fund, and a further £5 million from the Rothschild Foundation. The

The SE1 website is supported by people like you
Related forum discussions
We are part of
Independent Community News Network
Email newsletter

For the latest local news and events direct to your inbox every Monday, you need our weekly email newsletter SE1 Direct.

Archive
News archive from February 1999 to January 2001
Got a story for us?
Contact us with your tip-offs and story ideas.