Butterfly Bridge

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Rotherhithe Tunnel Footbridge by Nicholas Lacey and Partners, 1998
St James Gardens, Rotherhithe
London, September 2003

“This footbridge spans across the northern approach road to Rotherhithe Tunnel in east London, providing a direct route from St James Gardens at its north end to various streets and housing at its south end. The south end spills onto a piazza behind the horrible post-modern ventilation building which sits over the west portal of another tunnel, the Limehouse Link, completed in 1993. The bridge connection is useful but not vital. There’s an alternative route a short distance to the east, but that involves crossing the Rotherhith Tunnel roadway at grade, so the bridge is a welcome alternative. The footbridge was built for £550,000 in 1998, to a design by Nicholas Lacey and Partners with Whitby Bird and Engineers and WS Atkins. It was reportedly nicknamed the "butterfly bridge" at the time. Obviously something was in the air as a similar twin inclined arch bridge also nicknamed the ‘butterfly bridge’ was built in Bedford the year before, with a different design team. Whitby Bird and Lacey also collaborated on the St Saviour's Dock swing bridge around the same time, and there are definitely some similarities.” (Rotherhithe Tunnel Footbridge, The Happy Pontist)