LONDON’S ILLUMINATED RIVER PROJECT WILL LIGHT UP THE HEART OF THE CAPITAL

Stretching five miles from Tower Bridge in the East to the Albert bridge in the west, comprising some 69,000 LEDs and costing £ 45 million, the world`s largest work of art is about to be unveiled in London.

The project is largely financed by the Rothschild Foundation and aims to transform the appearance of the river and its banks. The plan is to transform a handful of spans at a time until 2022. The first four, London Bridge, Cannon Street, Southwark Bridge and the Millennium Bridge are to be lit by the end of July.

The man tasked with the project, Leo Villareal, is one half of the team that won the international illuminated River competition in 2016 and is responsible for the art direction of the London project. He has had success with a similar project lighting the Bay Bridge in San Francisco.

The British team of Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands are laser-scanning the 15 bridges selected, installing the LEDs co-ordinating 40 planning applications for often listed structures, instructing teams of abseilers and generally handling the seven councils and 100 stakeholders plus the ecological and engineering challenges.