THAMES PATH PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE, LECHLADE, UK
1993 marked probably the first UK bridge design competition opened to architects. It attracted 600 applicants and over 200 entries. 184 miles (294 km) long Thames Path starts at the Thames source in the Cotswolds and finishes at the Thames Barrier in Greenwich. A pedestrian bridge was needed at Lechlade to cross the Thames due to land ownership issues. We won this competition with our proposal, which, if realised, would have been the first bridge in the world built entirely from carbon fibre composite materials and coated with a protective film of diamond. Despite the fact that the design was praised by the Royal Fine Arts Commission, and supported by architects like Richard Rogers; despite featuring in TV programmes, papers and magazines and a variety of exhibitions including the 1993 Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition, the project fell under planning due to local opposition from one side of the Thames.
Design developed with Ove Arup and Partners, Arthur Webb, John Prewer and Ernest Nagy, the inventor of the Nagy diamond coating technique. Not realised.
