[FONT="]History[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Since opening in March 2000 The London Eye has become an iconic landmark and a symbol of modern Britain. The London Eye is the UK’s most popular paid for visitor attraction, visited by over 3.5 million people a year. A breathtaking feat of design and engineering, passengers in the London Eye's capsules can see up to 40 kilometres in all directions.
The London Eye is the vision of David Marks and Julia Barfield, a husband and wife architect team. The wheel design was used as a metaphor of the turning of the century.
British Airways was the main sponsor of the London Eye until February 2008 and up until November 2005 were joint shareholders with Marks Barfield Architects and The Tussauds Group. British Airways also privately funded the London Eye project from the early stages of conception. [/FONT]
[FONT="]The London Eye is now operated by the London Eye Company Limited, a Merlin Entertainments Group Company. [/FONT]
Timeline
The London Eye has come a long way since opening as the Millennium Wheel in 2000, it has become a symbol of modern Britain; it is the UK’s number one paid-for visitor attraction and the number one filming location.
Please see below for key events that have help create and shape the fascinating London Eye that is present today.
June 2008
The 30 millionth visitor was welcomed to the London Eye.
May 2008
The millionth visitor was welcomed on the London Eye River Cruise.
March 2007
The 25 millionth visitor was welcomed to the London Eye
March 2007
The London Eye became part of the Merlin Entertainment’s Group, the world’s number two visitor attraction operator.
February 2006
The London Eye was finally granted a 25 year lease agreement
December 2005
The first civil partnership was performed on the London Eye. To mark the special occasion, the London Eye was turned pink.
March 2005
The London Eye celebrated its fifth anniversary - 7,000 quarter bottles of Laurent-Perrier Champagne and 3,000 bottles of orange juice were given away to customers to help celebrate the special day
February 2004
The London Eye remained open for the first time until midnight to create a romantic atmosphere on St. Valentine’s Day
September 2002
The 10 millionth customer was welcomed at the London Eye
August 2002
The popular London Eye River Cruise was launched
February 2002
Exciting and unique wedding packages were introduced
January 2002
The Euro was accepted at the London Eye
March 2001
The London Eye celebrated its first official birthday. During the first year of operation, the London Eye welcomed more than 3.5 million customers
March 2000
The London Eye officially opened to the public
October 1999
The London Eye was raised over the River Thames
Late 1998
Building commenced on the construction of The London Eye
Awards
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The London Eye has won over 75 awards for national and international tourism, outstanding architectural quality and engineering achievement since opening in March 2000.
Highlights
2007
TripAdvisor.com - Best Attraction in Europe
Coach Tourism Awards - UK’s Attraction of the Year
2006
Visit London - 'Best Day out for Londoner's' People's Choice award
The British Travel Awards 2006 – Best attraction
Enjoy England awards - Best Tourism Experience
2005
Best Art Direction for Advertising Communications Award
Visit London - 'Tour London' award
Visit London - 'Best Day out for Londoner's' People's Choice award
2004
The World Travel Awards - Word’s leading attraction
The Best Art Direction for Advertising Communications award 2004
2003
Visit Britain, Excellence in England - Tourism Website of the Year
Visit London – Tourism website of the year
The 2003 Queen's Award for Enterprise: Innovation
2002
London Tourism Awards - BBC London People's Choice Award
2001
Design and Architecture Design Awards - Most Outstanding Environmental
London Tourism Awards - BBC London People's Choice Award
Marketing Effectiveness Awards - New Product of the Year
Daily Mirror Pride of Britain Awards - Innovation
Travellers' Choice Awards - Best Millennium Attraction.
2000
Leisure Property Forum Awards - Best Innovative Concept
London Tourism Awards - BBC London People's Choice Award
Making of the London Eye
The London Eye is a unique and versatile structure, comprising the best of British architecture and design, rising high above London's skyline at 135 metres. Creating the tallest observation wheel in the world was a great challenge. In this section you are able to learn about the different components, read fascinating facts and figures and even create the London Eye for yourself. See below for more details.
Capsules
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The London Eye passenger capsules incorporate an entirely new design form for an observation wheel. Instead of being suspended under gravity they turn within circular mounting rings fixed to the outside of the main rim, thereby allowing a spectacular 360 degree panorama at the top.
The 32 high-tech capsules have a heating and cooling system and have a bench seating. The London Eye capsules represent the 32 boroughs of London.
Cables
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The London Eye uses two types of cable: wheel cables and backstay cables. Wheel cables include 16 rim rotation cables, and 64 spoke cables. These are similar to bicycle spokes and stretch across the wheel. There are six backstay cables, which are located in the compression foundation.
Foundation
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The compression foundation is situated underneath the A - frame legs; it required 2,200 tonnes of concrete and 44 concrete piles - each being 33 metres deep. The tension foundation, holding the backstay cables, used 1,200 tonnes of concrete.
Spindle
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The main elements of the hub and spindle were manufactured in cast steel. The spindle was too large to cast as a single piece so instead was produced in eight smaller sections. Two further castings, in the form of great rings form the main structural element of the hub. The hub is a rolled steel tube forming the spacer that holds them apart. All the casting was carried out by Skoda Steel.
Interesting things you never knew about the London Eye
A TEAM EFFORT
It took seven years and the skills of hundreds of people from five countries to make the London Eye a reality
A VIEW FIT FOR A QUEEN
You can see around 40KM (25 miles) from the top as far as Windsor Castle on a clear day
FLYING HIGH
The London Eye welcomes an average of 3.5 million customers every year. You would need 6,680 fully booked British Airways Boeing 747-400 jumbo jets to move that number of fliers!
DING! DING!
The London Eye can carry 800 passengers per revolution - equivalent to 11 London red doubled-decker buses
HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION
Each of the 32 capsules weighs 10 tonnes. To put that figure into perspective, it's the same weight as 1,052,631 pound coins!
SLOWLY BUT SURELY
Each rotation takes about 30 minutes, meaning a capsule travels at a stately 26cm per second, or 0.9km (0.6 miles) per hour - twice as fast as a tortoise sprinting; allowing passengers to step on and off without the wheel having to stop
THE ONLY WAY IS UP
The circumference of the wheel is 424m (1.392ft) - meaning that if it were unravelled, it would be 1.75 times longer than the UK's tallest building - One Canada Square in Canary Wharf
TONNES OF FUN
The total weight of the wheel and capsules is 2,100 tonnes - or as much as 1,272 London black cabs!
UP, UP AND AWAY
The height of the London Eye is 135m (equivalent to 64 red telephone boxes piled on top of each other) making it the fourth tallest structure in London after the BT Tower, Tower 42 and One Canada Square in Canary Wharf
BLAST OFF
The spindle holds the wheel structure and the hub rotates it around the spindle. At 23 meters tall, the spindle is around the size of a church spire and, together with the hub, weighs in at 330 tonnes: over 20 times heavier than Big Ben
