This panel discussion pulls together some participants from the recent IABSE Henderson Colloquium to discuss the topic of the “Millennium Bridge Bubble”.
Centred around the turn of the millennium, the UK experienced a significant boom in the construction of footbridges, often with an ambition to have outcomes that were greater than the simple act of crossing an obstacle. The Colloquium explored whether those ambitions were realised, and whether it was a short-term bubble, a confluence of talent and funding, or whether it created a paradigm shift in the quality and skill level amongst designers, fabricators and contractors, as well as a permanent change in the ambitions of commissioning clients.
Based on the discussion had at the colloquium, this event (and the accompanying short report) starts to reflect and articulate the lessons that might still be learnt 25 years on in our age of climate crisis, fear and conservatism.
Panellists
David Knight (Cake Engineering) – Chair
Catherine Ramsden (Useful Studio)
Keith Brownlie (Beam Architects)
Brian Duguid (Mott MacDonald)
Arianna Levantesi (Knight Architects)
