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Even the most cynical, embittered Londoner will get a bit excited at the sight of Tower Bridge opening. An instant crowd assembles when the warning siren sounds, whipping out phones and taking a thousand blurry pics as the two-part bridge slowly lifts, and a tall boat serenely glides through. Many of us haven’t actually seen inside this miracle of Victorian engineering, but there’s a new reason to take the fascination further this summer: new cooling technology, designed to future-proof it against hotter summers.
The standout attraction of the Tower Bridge Experience is its high-level glass walkways. Look through the see-through floor and you can see the dizzying sight of boats navigating the Thames, 42 metres below. Time it right and you might also get to see the famous bridge lifting from above (and take some pics you’ll actually be proud of).
So far, the only drawback of these walkways has been how hot they get on sunny days: glass walls mean they get seriously stuffy when temperatures soar. The effect is so pronounced that Tower Bridge was forced to close for two days at the peak of the late June heatwave, disappointing visitors who’d made it the centrepiece of their holiday plans.
Now, it looks like heat-related closures will be a thing of the past. An innovative coating has been applied to the glass that cuts 95 percent of infrared radiation and blocks up to 96 percent of UV rays. The windows are as clear as ever, but now you can enjoy London’s panoramas without breaking a sweat.
This heritage-sensitive update to Tower Bridge is part of a wider movement to make London cooler as summers keep on warming up. TfL is investing heavily in air-conditioning on tube trains, stations, and double-decker buses. And earlier this year, Sadiq Khan unveiled Heat Ready London, a plan to cool the city by planting more trees, rethinking public buildings, and looking at solutions to make high-risk homes safer. If we get it right, there’ll still be hordes of tourists flocking to enjoy London’s biggest landmarks every August, instead of seeking refuge in other, colder, but less cool destinations.
In the mood for more sightseeing? One of London’s most important Shakespeare sites is opening up to the public with new tours.
Did you see that the Natural History Museum is opening a room that has been closed to the public since World War II?
Plus: London’s historic Cinema Museum has launched a campaign to secure its future.
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