London Eye Set to Celebrate its 18th birthday in October

Since the year 2000 this iconic piece of British structural engineering has dominated some of the thames skyline rotating quietly and majestically. Aside from from being one of Europe's most iconic land marks the London eye is an incredible feat of engineering. Having being designed by Marks Barfield Architects and subsequently developed off site, this awe inspiring structure was then erected where it currently sits over looking the Thames. This sizeable structure is arguably an engineers dream project. 

The London eyes construction is inclusive of A-Frames, Bearings and Steel tensile cabling. Arguably this project has the materials that every structural engineer would like to build with making it both challenging and interesting. The 135 Metre high structure is a truly impressive feet of engineering that tests the boundaries of modern designs .

The technical structure is supported by a large A-Frame foundation which secures the rotation wheel in position. The entire rotation element is constructed using large roller bearings. Leading manufacturer FAG supplied the bearing that enables the constant low friction rotation . Similar bearings to those are sold by Bearingtech mostly on smaller scale but not exclusively.

The 32 capsules each weighing 10 tonnes, respectively represent the 32 individual London boroughs and can carry 800 passengers with each rotation. This sum is equal to that of 11 double decker busses. At the apex of the London eye the view can be truly breath taking, extending as far as the home counties in every direction.