Thames Garden Bridge project

The Garden Bridge is a new proposed 366m-long footbridge that will stretch across the River Thames, from the top of Temple underground station on the Northbank to the South Bank. It will also hold an expansive garden.

Mark Tur, technical consultant, at the Copper Alliance, told Maritime Journal that although the material has been around for years, it is not often that it gets used in architecture.

“It was actually developed by the Admiralty Commission as a resistant material that is compatible with offshore work. It is mostly used in seawater pumping systems, the food industry and in hospitals because of its anti-microbial properties,” he said.

The alloy itself is a mix of copper (90%) and nickel (10%). It also has a sister metal which is copper (70%) and nickel (30%) which is mainly used on oil rigs, in the petrochemical industry and on ships.

Mr Tur told MJ: “People are slowly coming to the realisation that copper alloys are better suited to the marine engineering environment than materials such as stainless steel which of course corrodes.”

The bridge is at planning and commission stage, but it is expected to welcome its first pedestrians in the summer of 2018. It was originally conceived as an idea by actress and campaigner Joanna Lumley and designed by Thomas Heatherwick, who also designed the London 2012 Olympic Cauldron.

It will be constructed by Bouygues TP and Cimolai as a joint venture.

When opened, the bridge will be free and open to all from 6am to midnight and the Trust has recently appointed a construction contractor to start building the unique bridge in early 2016.

By Anne-Marie Causer