UK Wraps Famous Suspension Bridge In Foil To Combat Ongoing Heatwave
By Alexa Heah, 18 Jul 2022
As temperatures surge across the UK, the Hammersmith & Fulham Council have devised a rather peculiar plan to keep the region’s 135-year-old Hammersmith Bridge, one of the world’s oldest suspension bridges, from overheating: wrapping it in foil.
Previously, in August 2020, entry to the historic bridge had to be halted when micro-fractures in its cast-iron pedestals widened during a heatwave.
Taking care to prevent this from happening again, the council installed £420,000 (US$499,000) temperature control system—described as “giant air conditioning units”—to alleviate any future damage.
However, despite having this system in place, temperatures in the borough are expected to hit highs of 34°C (93.2°F), leading the engineers to come up with additional measures to keep the bridge chains cool.
To achieve this, workers have been running the cooling system throughout the night, and are wrapping parts of the chains in silver insulation foil to better reflect the heat.
“The safety of the public is our priority. The temperature control system allows us to track weather spikes and maintain a constant temperature,” explained Sebastian Springer, Arcadis Project Manager.
“As we deal with the current extreme heat, we are also coming up with innovative solutions to keep the temperature within the threshold,” he added.
Fingers crossed the council’s measures work, or if the temperatures soar even higher, the bridge will have to be shuttered on public safety grounds.
[via BBC and Hammersmith & Fulham Council, cover image via Hammersmith & Fulham Council]