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to catch up.
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Everybody up here largely oblivious to what's going on underneath,
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the installation of the lighting scheme now properly under way.
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Each of these light fittings has got its own 14-digit unique identifier.
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The parts of the codes that are relevant to us...
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is LO for London Bridge, DS stands for downstream,
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and it's Gray's fitting number 0019.
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Number 19 of 500 plus that are being installed.
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Are you behind at this stage at all?
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A little bit. We're going to have to make the time up, and we will.
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I don't want to drag the project out.
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It will get finished when we say, give or take a day or two.
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OK. So you're comfortable you've got a bit of flex in that
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So, here we are up on London Bridge.
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I've got flex in the men rather than the programme, yeah.
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Right. Yeah, yeah. Putting in some hard yards.
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Yeah, just make sure that everyone just works totally focused,
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totally safe, but slightly faster.
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With the time pressure on and the benchmark test just a few
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clays away, work continues through the night.
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So, over here, you can see the night shift team on Southwark Bridge.
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People have been working during the day on certain parts of the bridge.
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And a whole different team turn up,
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get all their enormous amounts of kit on, and get to work.
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Right, are we ready?
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And what's incredible is that...
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Do you see it as an opportunity or an issue that needs to be managed?
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No, I very much see it as an opportunity.
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So, we worked alongside the illuminated bridges project to
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try and talk with the designers to encourage them to look about how you
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can design a bridge without ambient light going into the river itself.
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And they've been absolutely really sensitive to making sure that
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light is not thrown into the river.
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So, yeah, we welcome the project.
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Right, go on, then.
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You've been studied.
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Off they go.
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I believe so. Right, OK. Shall we go?
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you would never think we're just a few sweeps of a net...
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right here right next to the Tate Modern,
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you would catch a handful of fish of different species.
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Environmental concerns are one of the biggest
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issues for the lighting team.
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The benchmark test in just a week's time
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will reveal any light spillage and how much of it hits the water.
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Keeping all the agencies happy
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will be key for the project to stay on schedule.
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But before they can have the test,
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they need to get the lights on the bridges.
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HE LAUGHS
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now that I'm stepping between girders,
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I'm missing hanging from the rope.
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Climb across? You can go across to where Anya is for me.
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There you go. Nice. Watch your footing, though, Charlie, yeah?
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And that's... This is the light fitting we've got,
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and this is going to be attached to that thing.
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Our job is to fit a £1,200 state-of-the-art light fitting
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to the bottom of the steel arch.
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So we're going from this ledge here...
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...down to the ledge right by the water.
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And the water seems to be coming up to meet me.
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It does get quite close.
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While dangling seemed precarious,
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All this effort is just to get one light attached.
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I'm starting to realise what a huge undertaking this is.
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But there are perks.
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Whoa!
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HE LAUGHS
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The view is amazing. Oh, it's amazing, isn't it?
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Not many people get to experience that.
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No.
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Each light is unique and has to be fitted in an exact location.
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You've got it? Lovely. OK.
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Lee will need to identify and control each individual strip
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THEY LAUGH
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Tonight, I'll be helping specialist abseilers Lee
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and Anya fit lights onto Southwark Bridge.
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So, if you go in, is it an automatic inflate?
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Yes. Yeah? Fine.
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Well, at least I know how they work.
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If I was nervous of abseiling before,
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the view of a black abyss below has certainly raised my heart rate.
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Uh...
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It's looking quite a long way away.
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It's definitely looking chilly, that's for sure.
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I don't want to fall in that.
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What is your opinion about the Illuminated River project?
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Keep coming. ls your heart rate even slightly raised at this point?
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Not yet. No.
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Well, obviously, it's because you are here with me.
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Yeah. You could set anybody's pulse rate racing.
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Oh, mate, you're a charmer!
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Nice and easy. Yeah?
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Right, let that lay against the...
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There you go, and then bring your legs off.
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Oh, that's better. OK?
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Right. Are you happy?
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Yeah. Yeah.
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It's been a long road back to the clean river we have today.
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Well, I suppose, they've just gone somewhere else, I suppose.
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I mean, obviously, I don't know how they've got down.
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It's a fair old jump.
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So, I mean...
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They're brave little things, aren't they, jumping off there?
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With Dean giving the all clear,
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the work can finally continue on Cannon Street Bridge.
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The authorities looking out for the wellbeing of wildlife
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are not just concerned about the animals on the bridge
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but also the wildlife under the bridge.
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It's hard to believe 60 years ago
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the Natural History Museum declared the River Thames biologically dead.
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...under here just hiding away.
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Hello, Alison. Hi.
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How are you? All right. Welcome, Charlie.
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I'm meeting with Alison Debney
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from the Zoological Society of London
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to do a health check on the capital's river...
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Great. Really comfortable.
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HE LAUGHS
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...and also to see whether she has any environmental concerns with
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the Illuminated River project.
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You'll hold this end. Yes.
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But at the other end, there's one here, and you need to sort of
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With Southwark, Millennium,
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we've been delayed by various things like geese
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and electricity suppliers and bits of kit not arriving on time,
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so I think we're up against it to make sure that it's right.
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The contractors have very worried faces,
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and I have to keep sort of saying, are we on track? Are we on track?
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And they keep saying to me, well, we are
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until we find any other problems.
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It's the unknowns that we're worried about.
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There are going to be a lot of late nights between now
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and the benchmarking tests - that's for sure.
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The river illumination project is in full swing.
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use your foot... Yes.
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and London Bridge all having electrical cabling threaded
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throughout in preparation for the first lights to be fitted.
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And, finally, there is
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some breaking news about the delay to Cannon Street Bridge.
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Well, they've hatched, and there's seven of them down here,
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the mother and father. Three days ago, they hatched.
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You can see them around here, and walking down the pier.
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There's the parents and all seven wobbling behind each other.
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Before work can continue, Dean has to check to see
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if the geese have left the bridge.
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I'm just trying to see if they're under any...
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Because they're a relative of the salmon and trout,
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Do you know why it's called smelt? No.
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Do you want to have a smell, see if you can smell anything?
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Oh, my God.
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That smells of cucumber.
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Yeah.
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So, often the fishermen used to know, well, you'd catch a fish
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because you can smell it on the net before you can see the fish itself.
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It's an interesting history, the smelt.
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It used to be, like, the primary fishery of the Thames,
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and, you know, back in the 1700s,
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there were 500 fishermen working on it.
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But over the years, water quality has basically finished them off.
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European smelt.
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they're very sensitive to dirty water, and they need clean water.
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So it's great that we're finding them in the Thames.
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It is really encouraging that the smelt numbers are increasing.
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However, I can't help wondering what the
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effects of thousands of new LED lights on the bridges will
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have on the wildlife and specifically fish swimming below.
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What impact does artificial light have on nature in the river?
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When you start putting in artificial light, it confuses them.
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Fish, like us, are... We're adapted to day and night
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so that artificial light is shown to have
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an impact on their successful migration.
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So, we're really going to catch...
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...like that. Like that. Exactly.
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And then in a dignified way, you've got to shuffle around.
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In a dignified way. It's highly technical.
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It's quite glamorous, this, isn't it?
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SHE LAUGHS Excellent.
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Who thought marine biology was bikinis and...
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Yes, suntan lotion. Yeah, and turtles.
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The best way to check how wildlife is doing in the Thames is to
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basically scoop it up and see.
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And in the meantime, try not to fall over
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or activate the water sensitive life jacket.
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and each individual node to add his artistic vision to the bridge.
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AIR RUSHES INTO LIFE JACKET
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THEY BOTH LAUGH
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I think that's an overreaction.
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Um...
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Right. Let's bring it in.
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See if we've caught anything, then.
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Oh, yes. That's exciting. We've got eels.
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Oh, eels.
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So, there's four, well, three different species there.
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Alison now records what we've found, and it's very encouraging.
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Smelt, yeah.
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I think fundamentally the most important thing is to make sure
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Safety of the public and protection of wildlife are key,
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so there can't be too much glare or light spillage onto the river.
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Does it feel a bit like exam day? Worse. It feels worse than exam day.
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I haven't felt this nervous, certainly professionally,
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for a very, very long time.
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This is such a D-Day for us on this project.
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As I say, if we get it right now, it's a massive relief.
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Well, yeah, we've got our planners from Southwark
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and also the City of London, the Lighting and Highways team
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from City of London as well.
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We've got our planning consultants, we've got our architects,
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we've got our lighting engineers, we've got our contractors.
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and not the rest of the environment.
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there isn't any glare, that no-one gets blinded by the lights.
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The planners are armed with light metres.
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Their job is to make sure the lights aren't too bright.
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What happens if the planners aren't happy?
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HORN BLOWS
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Well, that's exactly how I feel if the planners aren't happy!
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As the sun finally goes down, it's time for the demonstration to begin.
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First up, Millennium Bridge.
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At the moment, we're only lighting the deck from this side.
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So the level is higher
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because we're having to light the whole thing from this side. I see.
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Yeah, it seems like quite a lot to do yet.
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It's going slow, I don't know, maybe 60% slower than a normal day.
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It's just the weather because you never know, in England,
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you have winter, autumn and summer on the same day!
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Pretty hectic.
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This particular bridge, Cannon Street, we haven't got any
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power here yet, so we are having to run off a generator.
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And that's causing a few problems with voltage fluctuations
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and some of the lights aren't working at the minute.
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We've still got to install a cable tray across the soffit,
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pull the cables, put the wide steels that support the lights in.
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It's a lot of work.
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Because the issue here has always been when it gets darker than this,
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I think within the Conways umbrella, there is becoming
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a little bit of competition, without a doubt.
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But we are all for the greater good!
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It's a big night.
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As the sun sets on London,
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judgment time has arrived for Sarah, Leo and the team.
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The city planners are preparing for a night-time inspection.
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If they think the lights are causing problems or have been installed
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incorrectly, they have the power to seriously delay the project.
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What they're actually looking for is light pollution.
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To ensure that we light up the bridge
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...It's set to be a nervous wait for the verdict tomorrow.
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there's a big problem.
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That's not good, is it?
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The light metres are going off the scales.
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Yeah, this is no good, is it?
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It's the moth to the flame thing, isn't it?
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The lights are far too bright and directed too much at the footpath.
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We're being completely blinded by the lights under London Bridge.
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They are basically directly looking at us and so you can't see a thing.
255
00:45:45,770 --> 00:45:47,930
You're absolutely blinded by them.
256
00:45:47,930 --> 00:45:49,930
It's not a pleasant experience, actually.
257
00:45:51,560 --> 00:45:54,180
With the go-ahead in the hands of the city planners...
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00:45:54,180 --> 00:45:56,100
I can't look at them.
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00:45:17,270 --> 00:45:20,450
Finally, they move on to London Bridge and suddenly,
260
00:46:01,110 --> 00:46:02,800
So how have we done?
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00:46:05,620 --> 00:46:10,470
Next time, it's full steam ahead to get the final lights on the bridges.
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00:46:10,470 --> 00:46:12,420
The whole of the other site has been done.
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00:46:12,420 --> 00:46:15,740
There's literally just these last few units to go in.
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00:46:15,740 --> 00:46:19,380
Artist Leo touches down in London and starts work.
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00:46:19,380 --> 00:46:21,980
You know, after nearly three years of thinking about it,
266
00:46:21,980 --> 00:46:25,590
to sit in front of the bridge with the actual lights
267
00:46:25,590 --> 00:46:28,590
and to be able to control it, is pretty incredible.
268
00:46:28,590 --> 00:46:31,340
The build-up to the big switch on gathers momentum.
269
00:46:33,150 --> 00:46:36,870
And London's new look is revealed for the first time.
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00:46:42,780 --> 00:46:58,260
Subtitles by Red Bee Media
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What are you thinking?
272
00:44:03,710 --> 00:44:05,090
do you have a real stark adjacency
273
00:44:05,090 --> 00:44:06,880
between the lighting levels on the bridge?
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00:44:06,880 --> 00:44:09,350
One of the planners has noticed a big difference between
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the light colour on Millennium Bridge
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and the surrounding buildings.
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Ian was saying there's the potential to make the colour
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00:44:16,360 --> 00:44:20,970
temperature a bit warmer and to reduce the brightness. That's it.
279
00:44:20,970 --> 00:44:23,200
I suppose, yeah, it's how warm we want it to go.
280
00:44:23,200 --> 00:44:25,170
Onwards! One down, three to go!
281
00:44:26,760 --> 00:44:28,750
Next, Southwark Bridge.
282
00:44:28,750 --> 00:44:31,910
And so far the judges are not giving anything away.
283
00:41:13,120 --> 00:41:17,040
It's certainly a challenge. So it's quite bad.
284
00:44:36,800 --> 00:44:39,600
What do you think? What do you think, do you like it?
285
00:44:43,990 --> 00:44:47,800
It's just a test colour, is it?
286
00:44:47,800 --> 00:44:49,880
As they pass under the bridge,
287
00:44:49,880 --> 00:44:55,190
glare from some of the lights becomes the talking point.
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00:44:55,190 --> 00:44:57,560
Why do they seem brighter at this end than that?
289
00:44:57,560 --> 00:44:59,830
I was going to say, because of the angle you're getting.
290
00:44:59,830 --> 00:45:01,480
It's just the angle, is it?
291
00:45:01,480 --> 00:45:02,920
To a city planner,
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00:45:02,920 --> 00:45:06,630
dazzling passing pedestrians is a huge safety concern.
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00:45:07,960 --> 00:45:11,400
The laws of physics, when you're looking straight into a fitting,
294
00:45:11,400 --> 00:45:14,200
you won't be able to avoid it. Yeah.
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00:37:23,470 --> 00:37:27,240
who started probably in '37 at the beginning, it was all men.
296
00:36:47,390 --> 00:36:51,590
So in the 1930s, construction started on a new bridge.
297
00:36:51,590 --> 00:36:55,670
So Keith, what's your connection with Waterloo Bridge?
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00:36:55,670 --> 00:36:59,240
My grandfather and father both worked on the bridge during the war.
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00:36:59,240 --> 00:37:01,930
In the construction phase? Absolutely, yeah.
300
00:37:01,930 --> 00:37:05,360
My grandfather was on the project from the beginning, 1937,
301
00:37:05,360 --> 00:37:07,160
something like that.
302
00:37:07,160 --> 00:37:10,280
And he finished in '45, which is when it was completed.
303
00:37:10,280 --> 00:37:12,800
So he saw it right from the very beginnings,
304
00:37:12,800 --> 00:37:15,590
all the way through to the grand opening? Yes, he did.
305
00:37:15,590 --> 00:37:19,470
So, what do you know about the story behind the name of this bridge,
306
00:37:19,470 --> 00:37:21,560
as the Ladies' Bridge?
307
00:37:21,560 --> 00:37:23,470
Well, my grandad Charlie,
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it eventually became unusable.
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00:37:27,240 --> 00:37:29,440
There were like 500 men.
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00:37:29,440 --> 00:37:34,240
'39, war was declared and they started to get called up.
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00:37:34,240 --> 00:37:37,400
And so they needed to carry on working, they needed to carry on
312
00:37:37,400 --> 00:37:41,240
working on the bridge and so they started recruiting women.
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00:37:41,240 --> 00:37:44,570
But there were no skilled women welders or anything,
314
00:37:44,570 --> 00:37:47,470
they would have just joined as labourers.
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00:37:47,470 --> 00:37:49,750
And I guess those with talent learned from the men
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00:37:49,750 --> 00:37:51,880
that were left to do the specific jobs.
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00:37:55,040 --> 00:37:57,830
NEWSREEL: At government training centres all over the country,
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00:37:57,830 --> 00:38:02,010
more and more women are releasing men for the fighting services...
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00:38:02,010 --> 00:38:04,730
And while there is plenty of newsreel footage of women
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00:35:45,180 --> 00:35:48,530
...known to the river community as the Ladies' Bridge.
321
00:35:13,280 --> 00:35:15,840
I mean, is this what you thought you'd be doing when you grow up?
322
00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:17,890
No, not really!
323
00:35:17,890 --> 00:35:19,210
THEY LAUGH
324
00:35:19,210 --> 00:35:22,130
So, Anya, how long have you been doing this?
325
00:35:22,130 --> 00:35:25,680
I've been working for them for the last...ten months, since October.
326
00:35:25,680 --> 00:35:27,200
And do you enjoy it?
327
00:35:27,200 --> 00:35:28,530
Yeah, I love it.
328
00:35:28,530 --> 00:35:30,280
Yeah? I love it.
329
00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:34,980
Anya may be the only woman working with me today
330
00:35:34,980 --> 00:35:39,090
but I have heard that just up the river, women played a huge
331
00:35:39,090 --> 00:35:43,130
roll in building one of London's most famous bridges...
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00:38:04,730 --> 00:38:08,440
doing their bit for the war effort, for decades no-one could find
333
00:35:56,350 --> 00:35:59,510
TOUR GUIDE: We're just approaching Waterloo Bridge.
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00:35:59,510 --> 00:36:02,380
They call it the Ladies' Bridge...
335
00:36:02,380 --> 00:36:05,150
As these tourist boats plough up and down the Thames,
336
00:36:05,150 --> 00:36:08,720
the watermen on board tell wonderful tales about the myths
337
00:36:08,720 --> 00:36:11,280
and legends of the river and the bridges.
338
00:36:11,280 --> 00:36:16,080
And one of my favourites concerns this bridge. Waterloo Bridge.
339
00:36:18,310 --> 00:36:22,070
The story goes that this concrete arched bridge was built by women.
340
00:36:28,090 --> 00:36:31,920
The first Waterloo Bridge was opened in 1817,
341
00:36:31,920 --> 00:36:35,210
in the presence of the Duke of Wellington, marking
342
00:36:35,210 --> 00:36:38,960
the second anniversary of his victory in the Battle of Waterloo.
343
00:36:40,370 --> 00:36:44,200
Not designed for modern traffic and damaged by tides,
344
00:40:27,830 --> 00:40:31,250
of each of the four bridges lit up for their approval.
345
00:39:24,520 --> 00:39:26,370
And with no official record,
346
00:39:26,370 --> 00:39:30,720
the story of Waterloo Bridge became nothing more than hearsay.
347
00:39:30,720 --> 00:39:33,840
Until one day, after years of research,
348
00:39:33,840 --> 00:39:37,650
three photos were found locked away in the archives.
349
00:39:50,110 --> 00:39:52,810
They are believed to be the only evidence of women
350
00:39:52,810 --> 00:39:54,440
working on the bridge.
351
00:39:58,450 --> 00:40:02,170
Finally, four years ago in 2015,
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00:40:02,170 --> 00:40:05,680
Historic England officially acknowledged their work.
353
00:40:16,000 --> 00:40:19,360
The Illuminated River project is heading for a milestone.
354
00:40:21,600 --> 00:40:24,720
Work is flat out because in just a couple of clays,
355
00:40:24,720 --> 00:40:27,830
city planners are insisting on seeing one arch
356
00:39:15,650 --> 00:39:20,320
and to declare the new Waterloo Bridge to be open.
357
00:40:33,680 --> 00:40:38,010
For Sarah, Leo and the team, it's a nervous time.
358
00:40:38,010 --> 00:40:40,250
You have to be careful how different it might look compared
359
00:40:40,250 --> 00:40:42,100
to what they've seen.
360
00:40:42,100 --> 00:40:45,200
But I do think a lot of it is about brightness, isn't it? It is, yes.
361
00:40:45,200 --> 00:40:47,810
I think that would be the way round the situation. Yeah.
362
00:40:49,090 --> 00:40:52,250
They can only hope all the supervisors, electricians
363
00:40:52,250 --> 00:40:55,020
and workmen can finish on time.
364
00:40:55,020 --> 00:40:59,400
As the deadline approaches, everyone is feeling the strain.
365
00:40:59,400 --> 00:41:03,280
The bridge has created a number of issues in the sense
366
00:41:03,280 --> 00:41:08,020
that it's so slim and slender and minimalist,
367
00:41:08,020 --> 00:41:13,120
there's very little opportunity to hide anything.
368
00:38:39,520 --> 00:38:42,040
And all the records have gone. There's no records of anything.
369
00:38:08,440 --> 00:38:13,720
any hard evidence of their apparent contribution to Waterloo Bridge.
370
00:38:13,720 --> 00:38:16,080
One of the interesting things is the fact that
371
00:38:16,080 --> 00:38:19,600
when the war started, it became a confidential project.
372
00:38:19,600 --> 00:38:21,720
So they weren't allowed to take any photographs.
373
00:38:21,720 --> 00:38:24,960
I've got no photographs of my grandad and my dad on the bridge.
374
00:38:24,960 --> 00:38:27,750
There's nothing during the war time because they weren't allowed to.
375
00:38:27,750 --> 00:38:30,110
Because this was sort of an infrastructure,
376
00:38:30,110 --> 00:38:32,440
national importance project? Yeah, yeah.
377
00:38:32,440 --> 00:38:34,720
They wanted it for troop movements and all sorts of things.
378
00:38:34,720 --> 00:38:36,600
And so there was no reporting,
379
00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:39,520
no-one was allowed on the bridge other than people working there.
380
00:24:47,560 --> 00:24:50,920
So it's just under two weeks until the test and, unfortunately,
381
00:38:42,040 --> 00:38:44,180
Because I said, "Have you got a record of my grandad
382
00:38:44,180 --> 00:38:45,930
"and my dad working on the bridge?"
383
00:38:45,930 --> 00:38:48,800
"No," they said, "we haven't got anything from anybody."
384
00:38:48,800 --> 00:38:50,540
As war raged in Europe,
385
00:38:50,540 --> 00:38:54,280
back home Waterloo Bridge was secretly being built.
386
00:38:54,280 --> 00:38:56,930
And when victory finally came, remarkably,
387
00:38:56,930 --> 00:39:01,030
the work of the women remained unacknowledged.
388
00:39:01,030 --> 00:39:05,760
The final blow came in December 1945 when Deputy Prime Minister
389
00:39:05,760 --> 00:39:09,400
Herbert Morrison opened the bridge and in his speech,
390
00:39:09,400 --> 00:39:12,370
thanked only the men who built it.
391
00:39:12,370 --> 00:39:15,650
I will proceed to cut the tape
392
00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:33,160
the motion of the trains, boats and buses as they pass above and below.
393
00:07:45,700 --> 00:07:48,720
It's an ambitious goal and if they pull it off, it has
394
00:07:48,720 --> 00:07:53,000
a claim of being the biggest piece of public art ever created.
395
00:07:55,680 --> 00:07:57,480
In this first phase of the project,
396
00:07:57,480 --> 00:08:03,000
four bridges on a half-mile stretch of river will be illuminated.
397
00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:06,370
Starting in the east, London Bridge.
398
00:08:06,370 --> 00:08:08,840
Then Cannon Street Rail bridge.
399
00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:10,840
Southwark Bridge.
400
00:08:10,840 --> 00:08:15,610
And finally the Millennium pedestrian bridge.
401
00:08:15,610 --> 00:08:19,120
Each of these structures will have unique installations to
402
00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:20,840
transform them.
403
00:08:23,160 --> 00:08:24,880
Work has begun on London
404
00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:28,440
and Cannon Street bridge where subtle light movements will mirror
405
00:07:43,940 --> 00:07:45,670
the bridge structures.
406
00:08:35,600 --> 00:08:38,990
On the underbelly of Southwark Bridge, subtle shifting hues will
407
00:08:38,990 --> 00:08:43,970
emphasise the elaborate latticework within its 100-year-old arches.
408
00:08:46,500 --> 00:08:49,940
Right, one of the first things that we're going to be doing here are
409
00:08:49,940 --> 00:08:55,140
going to be lifting these stainless steel covers and box off this area.
410
00:08:55,140 --> 00:08:58,670
And at London's newest, the Millennium Bridge, the dead
411
00:08:58,670 --> 00:09:03,080
silhouette will be turned into a blade of light, spanning the Thames.
412
00:09:05,350 --> 00:09:08,730
I really am looking forward to getting this project up and running.
413
00:09:08,730 --> 00:09:12,370
When you go up and down the river, the whole of London is lit up,
414
00:09:12,370 --> 00:09:15,180
the only thing that isn't are the bridges.
415
00:09:15,180 --> 00:09:18,610
The brain behind the project to transform Britain's most
416
00:09:18,610 --> 00:09:23,200
famous river is renowned American artist Leo Villareal.
417
00:06:52,310 --> 00:06:56,790
When they are lit, 200 million people will see them every year.
418
00:06:12,530 --> 00:06:16,080
of the soffit? Initially we thought, no,
419
00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:18,520
but just through working, we've discovered that we have a few
420
00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:21,000
points where this rail is snaking,
421
00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:24,530
so they might have to relocate the lights a little bit lower. OK. OK.
422
00:06:26,530 --> 00:06:29,400
Cos that looks pretty straight down there so you're actually saying
423
00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:33,040
that it's the coming together of the concrete and the railjust drifting.
424
00:06:33,040 --> 00:06:35,250
Yeah, and we're talking 30mm here. Yeah.
425
00:06:35,250 --> 00:06:40,100
It all goes to show the precision of this work. You've got a job.
426
00:06:40,100 --> 00:06:41,780
Yeah. Perfect.
427
00:06:44,220 --> 00:06:48,040
The slight bend in the rail is already causing a headache
428
00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:52,310
and this is just one of 15 bridges.
429
00:09:27,490 --> 00:09:30,410
Leo and his team have a state-of-the-art light
430
00:06:56,790 --> 00:07:02,190
So they need to get it right. You are now passing under London Bridge,
431
00:07:02,190 --> 00:07:04,780
opened by Her Majesty the Queen.
432
00:07:08,290 --> 00:07:10,420
Poised to be fastened to London Bridge,
433
00:07:10,420 --> 00:07:15,000
thousands of lights are being tested by electricians off site.
434
00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:19,920
This is an example of one of the 500 Linear Graze lights that are being
435
00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:22,190
fitted just to London Bridge.
436
00:07:22,190 --> 00:07:25,910
48 individual light nodes within each fitting.
437
00:07:25,910 --> 00:07:29,580
It's something like 25,000 LED nodes that are going to be powered
438
00:07:29,580 --> 00:07:30,830
through the software.
439
00:07:35,500 --> 00:07:39,780
The overall idea is to use cutting-edge LED technology,
440
00:07:39,780 --> 00:07:43,940
producing sequenced patterns that subtly unfold across all
441
00:11:34,920 --> 00:11:37,540
It's that classic, to me, you know, as a layperson,
442
00:10:50,050 --> 00:10:53,680
So, we've got a date in the diary, so we can't just say, "Oops,
443
00:10:53,680 --> 00:10:57,200
"we're not ready yet," so we're going hell for leather now.
444
00:10:58,710 --> 00:11:03,560
The race to reveal the multi-million pound face-lift is on.
445
00:11:03,560 --> 00:11:07,990
Four weeks, five weeks, six weeks, seven weeks, eight weeks,
446
00:11:07,990 --> 00:11:12,160
nine weeks, 10 weeks, 11 weeks...
447
00:11:12,160 --> 00:11:13,970
\ 12 weeks. I
448
00:11:13,970 --> 00:11:15,480
It's in 12 weeks' time.
449
00:11:22,470 --> 00:11:23,960
With the clock now ticking,
450
00:11:23,960 --> 00:11:25,970
Sarah's left the office to give
451
00:11:25,970 --> 00:11:28,890
the on-site workers a bit of a pep talk.
452
00:11:28,890 --> 00:11:33,560
So, we're just here to sort of say, "Well done. Keep up the good work.
453
00:11:33,560 --> 00:11:34,920
"And finish on time."
454
00:10:47,900 --> 00:10:50,050
\ Yeah. We are. I
455
00:11:37,540 --> 00:11:40,180
construction, building site thing where there's one person
456
00:11:40,180 --> 00:11:43,360
doing the work and there's four of them looking at him.
457
00:11:43,360 --> 00:11:44,970
I never really understand that.
458
00:11:46,720 --> 00:11:49,570
One of the conditions of the Illuminated River project
459
00:11:49,570 --> 00:11:51,970
is that the lights must be hidden from view
460
00:11:51,970 --> 00:11:55,320
and not spoil the look of the bridge.
461
00:11:55,320 --> 00:11:57,720
So, it's quite a difficult bridge this, isn't it?
462
00:11:57,720 --> 00:12:00,720
This has been one of the most challenging among them all really.
463
00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:03,120
You know, I think, it's an artwork in itself and it's
464
00:12:03,120 --> 00:12:05,930
so streamlined, but there's plenty of places to hide
465
00:12:05,930 --> 00:12:09,560
stuff in the other bridges without impacting them at all
466
00:10:00,360 --> 00:10:02,840
director Sarah Gaventa.
467
00:09:30,410 --> 00:09:33,810
control centre in his New York studio.
468
00:09:33,810 --> 00:09:37,330
Here his computer engineers can create lighting designs
469
00:09:37,330 --> 00:09:41,090
using 3D models of every London Bridge.
470
00:09:41,090 --> 00:09:43,960
We're doing a lot of, a huge amount of work here,
471
00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:45,450
but until we get to London
472
00:09:45,450 --> 00:09:48,200
and on the banks of the Thames, we won't know.
473
00:09:48,200 --> 00:09:50,120
You know, what is the right tempo?
474
00:09:50,120 --> 00:09:51,400
What is the right pallet?
475
00:09:51,400 --> 00:09:53,530
And all these things will happen, you know, by gathering
476
00:09:53,530 --> 00:09:56,640
information from the site itself.
477
00:09:56,640 --> 00:10:00,360
In charge of this transatlantic collaboration is project
478
00:06:09,450 --> 00:06:12,530
and the amount of equipment you are trying to fit up into the underside
479
00:10:02,840 --> 00:10:07,350
Where's Wolfie? My dog is here. Where's the dog? Oh, no, we all like clogs.
480
00:10:07,350 --> 00:10:10,120
He can make some of the more key decisions for us.
481
00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:15,760
It's her job to make sure the £45 million project goes
482
00:10:15,760 --> 00:10:17,450
smoothly and to time.
483
00:10:19,450 --> 00:10:22,270
Leo, the artist, and I, we have a kind of conference call every
484
00:10:22,270 --> 00:10:25,680
couple of weeks just to sort of check in on progress,
485
00:10:25,680 --> 00:10:27,740
see how they're getting on and I think in a way
486
00:10:27,740 --> 00:10:31,330
kind of reassured Leo that things are on track as much as possible.
487
00:10:31,330 --> 00:10:35,420
A switch on date for the first four bridges has now been set
488
00:10:35,420 --> 00:10:38,790
and on the guest list will be London's great and good,
489
00:10:38,790 --> 00:10:43,380
the world's press and a plethora of international dignitaries.
490
00:02:15,260 --> 00:02:18,220
I can wake up on one side of the bed and think, "All it is is sticking
491
00:01:30,590 --> 00:01:34,100
And with the Thames home to an array of endangered species...
492
00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:37,850
Seal, look, there. Oh, my God!
493
00:01:37,850 --> 00:01:41,080
...protecting the fragile ecosystem will be paramount.
494
00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:43,520
Fish don't like light. Right. So, they use...
495
00:01:43,520 --> 00:01:45,240
So this is really not good.
496
00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:47,680
In the build-up to the big switch on...
497
00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:50,000
You turn this on, you hadn't seen this
498
00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:52,660
and there's all these people here. No pressure.
499
00:01:52,660 --> 00:01:57,140
...can the artist behind the project... I'm under scrutiny here.
500
00:01:57,140 --> 00:02:01,260
...pull off the feat of turning the Thames into a river of light.
501
00:02:09,690 --> 00:02:13,100
Last time, I joined the team who've been spearheading this
502
00:02:13,100 --> 00:02:15,260
project for the last three years.
503
00:01:27,310 --> 00:01:30,590
of the world has to wait a bit, you know, how will they prioritise us?
504
00:02:18,220 --> 00:02:21,540
"lights on a bridge," but actually it's far more complex than that.
505
00:02:21,540 --> 00:02:25,130
I saw why these bridges are crying out for a makeover.
506
00:02:25,130 --> 00:02:27,740
And from what I understand, all the lighting is faulty
507
00:02:27,740 --> 00:02:30,220
and has never been fixed.
508
00:02:30,220 --> 00:02:34,410
It's just a dark void. Suddenly realise that the bridges
509
00:02:34,410 --> 00:02:38,270
are not at their best in any way.
510
00:02:38,270 --> 00:02:41,470
I travelled to New York to meet the artist with
511
00:02:41,470 --> 00:02:45,230
the vision for a new Thames. This is not a loop.
512
00:02:45,230 --> 00:02:49,740
All these layers are all independent and being dynamically recombined,
513
00:02:49,740 --> 00:02:52,900
so you never see the exact same layering twice.
514
00:02:52,900 --> 00:02:55,410
And got my first glimpse of how it will look
515
00:00:52,510 --> 00:00:54,610
In this series, I will follow the ins
516
00:00:05,860 --> 00:00:10,000
For 2,000 years, it has been the lifeblood of London,
517
00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:14,440
nurturing the city that has grown along its banks.
518
00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:17,870
And today, it is still very much a working river with
519
00:00:17,870 --> 00:00:23,330
tens of millions of journeys over and along it every year.
520
00:00:23,330 --> 00:00:27,220
But it's about to undergo a change like never before.
521
00:00:27,220 --> 00:00:30,730
There is a plan for an audacious engineering project
522
00:00:30,730 --> 00:00:34,220
the likes of which this city has never seen,
523
00:00:34,220 --> 00:00:38,810
which promises to transform London's skyline for good -
524
00:00:38,810 --> 00:00:41,950
the plan to light the River Thames.
525
00:00:43,540 --> 00:00:49,300
15 iconic bridges with a combined span of 2.5 miles spread
526
00:00:49,300 --> 00:00:51,100
over five miles of river.
527
00:02:55,410 --> 00:02:57,890
when it's finally finished.
528
00:00:54,610 --> 00:00:57,300
and outs of this extraordinary project.
529
00:00:57,300 --> 00:00:59,020
Charlie, tell me you've got hands on.
530
00:00:59,020 --> 00:01:02,420
And see exactly what it takes to get something this
531
00:01:02,420 --> 00:01:05,180
ambitious off the ground.
532
00:01:05,180 --> 00:01:07,140
This has to work.
533
00:01:07,140 --> 00:01:09,340
If you would close the bridge, £2 million for 20 minutes.
534
00:01:09,340 --> 00:01:11,660
What? £2 million for 20 minutes.
535
00:01:11,660 --> 00:01:14,050
A project on this scale will be pitted with
536
00:01:14,050 --> 00:01:16,890
challenges from public scepticism...
537
00:01:22,730 --> 00:01:25,100
...to unforeseen delays.
538
00:01:25,100 --> 00:01:27,310
I don't care if somebody else's project in another part
539
00:05:16,700 --> 00:05:21,030
It's quite some way to travel. It works. Yeah, true.
540
00:04:28,260 --> 00:04:31,030
With no way of fixing the lights to the bridge from above,
541
00:04:31,030 --> 00:04:35,130
the workers will need to add 800 metres of light strips using
542
00:04:35,130 --> 00:04:39,220
a bespoke trolley suspended from the underside of the bridge.
543
00:04:40,700 --> 00:04:43,310
Whoo! Right.
544
00:04:43,310 --> 00:04:47,030
So, this is the containment that they've started fitting in to hold
545
00:04:47,030 --> 00:04:49,990
the lights. The lights, the electrical cables,
546
00:04:49,990 --> 00:04:53,230
all the junction boxes for the electricians to link into,
547
00:04:53,230 --> 00:04:57,320
this will all be here. It all wants to be invisible to the public eye,
548
00:04:57,320 --> 00:05:01,670
so you'lljust see the light, I think is the general idea. Right.
549
00:05:01,670 --> 00:05:05,860
How do we move? Manually, we push. We push? Yeah.
550
00:05:05,860 --> 00:05:08,710
Tourists would pay hundreds for this, let's go. Right, let's go.
551
00:05:08,710 --> 00:05:11,320
Ready when you are. Hey!
552
00:04:25,570 --> 00:04:28,260
when you drop off, that's the exciting bit.
553
00:05:21,030 --> 00:05:26,900
London Bridge has over 17 million people walk over it each year.
554
00:05:26,900 --> 00:05:29,340
It's one of London's busiest arteries,
555
00:05:29,340 --> 00:05:32,030
but I can't help wondering how many of them
556
00:05:32,030 --> 00:05:35,350
are aware of the transformation going on below their feet.
557
00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:43,370
The trolley ride is fun, but we have some serious work to
558
00:05:43,370 --> 00:05:48,440
get on with if we want this bridge to be lit up on time. Yep-ah!
559
00:05:51,880 --> 00:05:55,680
That's it. Slide on. Slide on, hold that up.
560
00:05:55,680 --> 00:05:57,920
Before the lights can be attached to the bridge,
561
00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:02,170
a tray for the cabling needs to be added with millimetre precision,
562
00:06:02,170 --> 00:06:06,760
despite the bridge being a third of a mile long and 100 feet wide.
563
00:06:06,760 --> 00:06:09,450
Have there been any problems about the size of the space
564
00:03:41,670 --> 00:03:44,980
It's 9am, it's rush hour on London Bridge, as you can see,
565
00:02:57,890 --> 00:02:59,980
You know, it's a lot of responsibility.
566
00:02:59,980 --> 00:03:02,760
This is a lot of money, a lot of effort that's going into it
567
00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:04,530
and we have to get it right.
568
00:03:09,140 --> 00:03:13,540
Today, work on the £45 million Illuminated River project
569
00:03:13,540 --> 00:03:15,310
officially kicks off.
570
00:03:18,700 --> 00:03:23,260
A team of 60 electricians, steel fabricators and abseilors
571
00:03:23,260 --> 00:03:28,380
will start the process of fitting nearly 300,000 LEDs to the
572
00:03:28,380 --> 00:03:30,500
bridges of central London.
573
00:03:30,500 --> 00:03:34,220
When you get at those, feather that out and lower it into them, yeah?
574
00:03:34,220 --> 00:03:37,620
This morning, I'm going to be joining the London Bridge team to
575
00:03:37,620 --> 00:03:41,670
see exactly how they're going to pull off this huge undertaking.
576
00:12:09,560 --> 00:12:13,040
and with this, it's completely different.
577
00:03:44,980 --> 00:03:46,740
a very busy place to be trying to work.
578
00:03:46,740 --> 00:03:48,490
We'll be rigging up some safety gear
579
00:03:48,490 --> 00:03:52,220
so we can go over the edge of the bridge and drop into a cradle.
580
00:03:52,220 --> 00:03:55,420
As an architectural designer, I'm used to examining all
581
00:03:55,420 --> 00:04:01,380
sorts of structures up close, but this is something different.
582
00:04:01,380 --> 00:04:05,020
OK, so you've abseiled before, used this sort of equipment in the past?
583
00:04:05,020 --> 00:04:08,590
Yes. I mean, I wouldn't mind a brush up. Yeah. Yeah.
584
00:04:08,590 --> 00:04:12,540
I'll see what I can do. I was just going to get you over.
585
00:04:12,540 --> 00:04:19,110
London Bridge is just 12 metres above fast-flowing, freezing water.
586
00:04:19,110 --> 00:04:22,580
You know, heights are deceiving, aren't they? Right.
587
00:04:23,950 --> 00:04:25,570
Yeah, that's the moment, isn't it,
588
00:20:48,960 --> 00:20:50,590
A lot of them did suffer from syphilis.
589
00:19:59,290 --> 00:20:01,980
stuck as a name for the area's prostitutes.
590
00:20:05,540 --> 00:20:09,410
Just 150 m from the bridge, Imogen has taken me
591
00:20:09,410 --> 00:20:13,640
to a memorial to the generations of women who worked on these streets.
592
00:20:16,230 --> 00:20:18,830
This is quite something, isn't it? It really is, yeah.
593
00:20:21,420 --> 00:20:25,310
So we know, from the 1590s, there was a single women's
594
00:20:25,310 --> 00:20:29,540
graveyard somewhere around here, and this is probably the site of it.
595
00:20:29,540 --> 00:20:31,030
Cross Bones graveyard.
596
00:20:31,030 --> 00:20:32,950
"In medieval times, this was an unconsecrated
597
00:20:32,950 --> 00:20:36,680
"graveyard for prostitutes, or Winchester Geese," we know about.
598
00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:39,420
A huge proportion of the burials here are not of the prostitutes
599
00:20:39,420 --> 00:20:41,750
themselves but of all the children that they lost.
600
00:20:45,670 --> 00:20:48,960
The life of a prostitute in this area is really hard.
601
00:19:55,570 --> 00:19:59,290
well into the 20th century, and the term Winchester Geese
602
00:20:50,590 --> 00:20:53,060
We know from their bones that they would have had venereal
603
00:20:53,060 --> 00:20:55,980
diseases for many, many years before they died.
604
00:20:55,980 --> 00:20:59,550
This was not a nice place to live - it was not salubrious, it stank.
605
00:20:59,550 --> 00:21:03,160
It's a really horrible, hard life that they lived. Mm.
606
00:21:03,160 --> 00:21:05,830
It's a sort of a living memorial to the...
607
00:21:05,830 --> 00:21:09,880
Yeah, people want to remember these people who were kind of
608
00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:12,910
overlooked for quite a lot of the last few hundred years, I suppose.
609
00:21:14,760 --> 00:21:18,270
Even today, ribbons are tied to these gates to remember
610
00:21:18,270 --> 00:21:22,250
London's forgotten - both past and present.
611
00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:35,680
The Illuminated River project is moving forward at full pace.
612
00:21:35,680 --> 00:21:39,670
The brackets and trays are now all set, and hundreds of metres
613
00:19:09,380 --> 00:19:14,260
legalised brothels in operation, employing hundreds of women.
614
00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:37,530
I'm meeting with an author who's written
615
00:18:37,530 --> 00:18:40,280
extensively about this area and who can explain
616
00:18:40,280 --> 00:18:44,530
the origins of Southwark's slightly seedy reputation.
617
00:18:44,530 --> 00:18:48,560
I think it helps to think about the Romans as living on that
618
00:18:48,560 --> 00:18:51,210
side of the river and, traditionally, I think
619
00:18:51,210 --> 00:18:53,200
Roman cities very much have the nasty stuff
620
00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:55,860
outside of the city walls - things that you don't want.
621
00:18:55,860 --> 00:18:57,900
Everything that smells happens over here.
622
00:18:57,900 --> 00:19:01,130
You've got tanneries and breweries and that kind of thing.
623
00:19:01,130 --> 00:19:05,970
But it was prostitution that gave Southwark its real notoriety.
624
00:19:05,970 --> 00:19:09,380
By the 12th century, it's thought there were as many as 18
625
00:21:39,670 --> 00:21:43,590
of data and electrical cables are starting to be laid.
626
00:19:14,260 --> 00:19:17,430
So then who's making the money? Who's controlling that trade?
627
00:19:17,430 --> 00:19:21,030
That goes to the Bishop of Winchester. A bishop? Yes.
628
00:19:21,030 --> 00:19:28,600
A bishop is controlling the sex trade of London? Absolutely!
629
00:19:28,600 --> 00:19:31,160
You know, it was a lucrative position to hold, I think,
630
00:19:31,160 --> 00:19:33,320
a bishop, in the medieval times.
631
00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:37,330
The prostitutes were known as Winchester Geese. Winchester Geese?
632
00:19:37,330 --> 00:19:39,180
His flock of Winchester Geese.
633
00:19:39,180 --> 00:19:40,770
While the Bishop of Winchester,
634
00:19:40,770 --> 00:19:44,530
who controlled the diocese of Southwark, officially condemned
635
00:19:44,530 --> 00:19:48,770
prostitution, he had no reservations about profiting from it.
636
00:19:52,850 --> 00:19:55,570
Southwark remained London's red light district
637
00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:06,400
pollution because, actually, the lighting that we're using is
638
00:23:18,910 --> 00:23:23,760
the visualisations maybe won't look as bright as we feared they'll look.
639
00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:27,190
To find out how the Illuminated River Foundation answer
640
00:23:27,190 --> 00:23:30,890
the residents' concerns, I'm meeting with the woman whose famous
641
00:23:30,890 --> 00:23:34,740
banking family are behind the £45 million project.
642
00:23:36,020 --> 00:23:39,560
I think that healthy debate and criticism is very,
643
00:23:39,560 --> 00:23:44,110
very important, and also, if nobody disagreed or agreed,
644
00:23:44,110 --> 00:23:45,960
then what would be the point of doing it?
645
00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:48,720
This is a public project, and it needs debate
646
00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:52,130
and it needs criticism, and I think that's a great thing.
647
00:23:52,130 --> 00:23:55,640
It's not building and adding in the kind of physical way -
648
00:23:55,640 --> 00:23:59,150
it's enhancing something that we already have.
649
00:23:59,150 --> 00:24:03,200
It's not adding massively to the environmental damage or light
650
00:23:12,790 --> 00:23:18,910
So we're hoping that maybe the colour schemes that we saw in
651
00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:09,610
state-of-the-art, cutting-edge, and it will actually reduce it.
652
00:24:09,610 --> 00:24:13,000
So, in this case, I would say that the footprint is very, very low.
653
00:24:14,610 --> 00:24:17,510
I really, truly think that bringing light to the bridges,
654
00:24:17,510 --> 00:24:20,990
making beautiful some of these things which are neglected,
655
00:24:20,990 --> 00:24:22,230
which often are eyesores,
656
00:24:22,230 --> 00:24:27,280
will add to the life of London for all Londoners, not just for a few.
657
00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:31,200
The concerns over the new lighting schemes have not gone unnoticed,
658
00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:34,480
and planners from the City of London have asked for
659
00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:36,870
a so-called benchmark test.
660
00:24:36,870 --> 00:24:41,240
They want to see one arch of each of the four bridges fully lit to
661
00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:44,560
make sure they do not exceed the strict lighting levels.
662
00:22:21,190 --> 00:22:25,130
kind of lighting, different colours, it's going to be like blinking.
663
00:21:43,590 --> 00:21:46,780
There needs to be a man pretty much at every bend
664
00:21:46,780 --> 00:21:49,430
when you're putting the cable in to try and control the cable
665
00:21:49,430 --> 00:21:53,040
and keep it on the route that it's designed to go on.
666
00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:56,080
Go on, then, just keep feeding it inside.
667
00:21:56,080 --> 00:21:59,840
Because these cables weigh something in the region of 3-400 kg
668
00:21:59,840 --> 00:22:04,400
in total length, if you don't get them in the right place, you can't
669
00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:08,840
just pull a little bit extra because you've not pulled it far enough.
670
00:22:08,840 --> 00:22:11,120
It's another major undertaking.
671
00:22:11,120 --> 00:22:16,150
The flurry of activity across the bridges is starting to draw crowds.
672
00:22:16,150 --> 00:22:18,710
They're putting the new lights over there on the bridge. OK.
673
00:22:18,710 --> 00:22:21,190
You can see the white beams over there - different
674
00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:35,840
first suburb, albeit a rather down-market one.
675
00:22:25,130 --> 00:22:28,900
It's easy to forget that the river is not just for visitors
676
00:22:28,900 --> 00:22:32,890
and tourists, but that residents live here too.
677
00:22:32,890 --> 00:22:36,510
And not all of them are fans of the proposed lighting.
678
00:22:36,510 --> 00:22:39,710
What do you think of the Illuminated River project?
679
00:22:39,710 --> 00:22:43,480
Initially, the first thought was, well, it's another Disneyland.
680
00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:50,150
I'm hopeful and ready to believe it will be the subtle experience
681
00:22:50,150 --> 00:22:52,790
that it is saying it's going to be.
682
00:22:54,470 --> 00:22:56,910
When we saw the visualisations,
683
00:22:56,910 --> 00:23:00,480
we were quite surprised to see Cannon Street Bridge
684
00:23:00,480 --> 00:23:07,150
and London Bridge lit in very bright pinks and purples and yellows.
685
00:23:07,150 --> 00:23:11,050
And we did wonder what the rationale was for that.
686
00:14:19,120 --> 00:14:23,550
Yeah, well, we're just coming up to pier head three now.
687
00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:37,080
makes London very special.
688
00:13:37,080 --> 00:13:39,280
HE LAUGHS
689
00:13:42,970 --> 00:13:46,370
With each of these bridges, unique, unforeseen issues
690
00:13:46,370 --> 00:13:49,410
and unpredictable problems are guaranteed.
691
00:13:49,410 --> 00:13:51,390
They can't afford to lose any time.
692
00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:02,830
The deadline for the big light up is fast approaching.
693
00:14:04,030 --> 00:14:06,240
But there's a problem.
694
00:14:06,240 --> 00:14:08,250
Watch out for you, watch out for the hole down there.
695
00:14:08,250 --> 00:14:10,620
End up in the water.
696
00:14:10,620 --> 00:14:12,260
At Cannon Street Bridge,
697
00:14:12,260 --> 00:14:16,340
a squatter has moved in and work has ground to a halt.
698
00:14:16,340 --> 00:14:17,780
Delays are mounting.
699
00:13:30,070 --> 00:13:35,360
They are all here in a very short stretch of river and that...
700
00:14:23,550 --> 00:14:25,700
It's pier head for we've got to go down.
701
00:14:28,110 --> 00:14:29,830
Let's have a check down here first.
702
00:14:34,240 --> 00:14:35,470
Yeah, it's just down here.
703
00:14:44,190 --> 00:14:50,190
London at night is about to change forever. The bridges of the River
704
00:14:50,190 --> 00:14:53,550
Thames are having their biggest makeover since they were built.
705
00:14:55,910 --> 00:15:00,320
All along the river, work is flat-out to install cable trays,
706
00:15:00,320 --> 00:15:04,750
light strips, fibre optics and junction boxes...
707
00:15:06,440 --> 00:15:09,900
...in a bid to turn the band of darkness that currently runs
708
00:15:09,900 --> 00:15:11,250
through the city at night...
709
00:15:13,980 --> 00:15:15,740
...into a river of light.
710
00:15:18,770 --> 00:15:22,540
But work on Cannon Street station has ground to a halt
711
00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:57,920
Then I've got London Bridge which is a reinforced concrete arch.
712
00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:16,080
One of the fascinating
713
00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:19,280
and challenging things around the Illuminated River project
714
00:12:19,280 --> 00:12:22,000
is that the light installations are having to be designed
715
00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:26,080
completely differently for all of the different kinds of bridges.
716
00:12:26,080 --> 00:12:28,770
And it's one of the interesting aspects of the Thames
717
00:12:28,770 --> 00:12:34,260
of central London in that it has an example of pretty much every single
718
00:12:34,260 --> 00:12:39,970
major type of bridge that there is in a very short stretch of river.
719
00:12:42,060 --> 00:12:45,540
Standing here on the South Bank of the Thames, just near St Paul's,
720
00:12:45,540 --> 00:12:47,700
it's amazing because if I look right around the corner,
721
00:12:47,700 --> 00:12:51,340
I just get a glimpse of Tower Bridge, which is this extraordinary
722
00:12:51,340 --> 00:12:55,000
compound of many different kinds of bridge structure in one.
723
00:15:22,540 --> 00:15:25,570
because a squatter has decided to make the bridge her home.
724
00:12:57,920 --> 00:13:00,900
I've got Cannon Street Rail Bridge which is a deck bridge.
725
00:13:00,900 --> 00:13:03,970
Then I've got Southwark Bridge which is a girder arch bridge.
726
00:13:03,970 --> 00:13:07,640
I've got the Millennium Bridge which is a suspension bridge.
727
00:13:07,640 --> 00:13:09,530
I've then got Blackfriars Rail Bridge,
728
00:13:09,530 --> 00:13:13,120
originally built to take trains across the Thames, but it was
729
00:13:13,120 --> 00:13:17,040
so well engineered by the Victorians that quite recently they've
730
00:13:17,040 --> 00:13:18,970
just dumped a railway station on top of it.
731
00:13:18,970 --> 00:13:21,480
Then I've got Waterloo Bridge, another reinforced concrete
732
00:13:21,480 --> 00:13:24,680
arch bridge. Just around the corner I've got Hungerford, which is
733
00:13:24,680 --> 00:13:27,690
a deck bridge and it has a pedestrian bridge suspended
734
00:13:27,690 --> 00:13:30,070
alongside, which is a cable-stayed bridge.
735
00:17:39,490 --> 00:17:40,940
and hard to come off
736
00:16:59,900 --> 00:17:02,650
I've certainly never walked across it
737
00:17:02,650 --> 00:17:08,140
and, despite its elegant simplicity, this is London's least used,
738
00:17:08,140 --> 00:17:12,490
and probably least well-known, road bridge.
739
00:17:12,490 --> 00:17:16,100
Southwark Bridge, known by locals as the forgotten bridge,
740
00:17:16,100 --> 00:17:19,660
hasn't been helped by its old lighting system which,
741
00:17:19,660 --> 00:17:23,180
withered by rain and wind, now barely works.
742
00:17:24,460 --> 00:17:26,650
Just taking off the lights for the pierheads,
743
00:17:26,650 --> 00:17:29,850
getting all the old lighting out before we put the new stuff in.
744
00:17:31,130 --> 00:17:34,770
So it's out with the old lights and in with the new.
745
00:17:34,770 --> 00:17:36,570
It's just a bit time consuming.
746
00:17:36,570 --> 00:17:39,490
Obviously, there's water damage and stuff, so everything's a bit rusty
747
00:16:56,420 --> 00:16:59,900
and I'm not sure that I ever have been across this bridge.
748
00:17:40,940 --> 00:17:43,180
and it's probably not been cleaned in 100 years!
749
00:17:46,390 --> 00:17:50,940
Hopefully, this project can throw a spotlight on this forgotten bridge.
750
00:17:54,290 --> 00:17:56,420
In London folklore, it's said that,
751
00:17:56,420 --> 00:17:59,900
if you find yourself on Southwark Bridge, you're probably lost.
752
00:18:03,900 --> 00:18:05,610
Or at least, back in the day,
753
00:18:05,610 --> 00:18:07,850
that's what you might want people to believe.
754
00:18:09,330 --> 00:18:13,330
Because there were some users of the bridge who knew exactly where
755
00:18:13,330 --> 00:18:17,570
they were going - and it was over there, to sleazy Southwark.
756
00:18:19,920 --> 00:18:24,210
Southwark started life as a swampy marshland across the river
757
00:18:24,210 --> 00:18:27,250
from the Roman city of Londinium.
758
00:18:27,250 --> 00:18:31,200
Eventually, it was urbanised and effectively became London's
759
00:16:04,490 --> 00:16:07,500
We can't physically move her, and she's got every right to be
760
00:15:26,980 --> 00:15:27,850
She's just down there.
761
00:15:31,690 --> 00:15:34,410
An Egyptian goose is nesting in the bridge,
762
00:15:34,410 --> 00:15:37,540
and the project's ecologists have insisted the goose not be
763
00:15:37,540 --> 00:15:40,850
approached while she's incubating her eggs.
764
00:15:40,850 --> 00:15:46,050
Obviously, we can't work above, within 5 m below, around,
765
00:15:46,050 --> 00:15:48,020
anywhere near her.
766
00:15:48,020 --> 00:15:51,050
I mean, we can't touch her for at least a month,
767
00:15:51,050 --> 00:15:55,180
that we know of, if it's for the 28 days' gestation, and then
768
00:15:55,180 --> 00:15:58,140
we've got to wait for the hatching and the fledglings to fly away.
769
00:15:58,140 --> 00:16:00,550
So we could be aiming for a month to a month and a half, roughly,
770
00:16:00,550 --> 00:16:04,490
I'm thinking. At the end of the day, it is what it is. It's the law.
771
00:00:02,400 --> 00:00:05,860
The River Thames is one of the world's great waterways.
772
00:16:07,500 --> 00:16:10,570
here, so there's nothing that we can do about it.
773
00:16:10,570 --> 00:16:12,620
We've just got to see how it goes, basically.
774
00:16:15,570 --> 00:16:21,210
For Sarah and the Illuminated River team, any delays are a huge problem.
775
00:16:21,210 --> 00:16:26,330
The geese that laid some eggs - why they picked underneath Cannon Street
776
00:16:26,330 --> 00:16:30,180
when they like reeds and making nice reed nests, I don't know.
777
00:16:30,180 --> 00:16:33,890
The first four bridges need to be ready for the big switch-on,
778
00:16:33,890 --> 00:16:36,200
and that's now just 10 weeks away.
779
00:16:37,610 --> 00:16:44,700
OK, so, we are about a week behind, for various crazy reasons.
780
00:16:44,700 --> 00:16:48,500
But at least work can continue on the other bridges -
781
00:16:48,500 --> 00:16:50,900
from the most famous to the less familiar.
782
00:16:52,940 --> 00:16:56,420
I lived and cycled around London for over a decade,
68456
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