Current works on Hammersmith Bridge as of March 2022.

Engineering on the £8.9m Phase 1 programme to stabilise  Hammersmith Bridge started at the end of February.

H&F’s cabinet approved the capital spend to expedite the works at speed in anticipation of the government and Transport for London (TfL) subsequently reimbursing the council with their one-third shares which is expected to be formalised in a proposed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

To enable the works to be undertaken safely, the main carriageway section of the bridge is now closed off. This means that while this work is taking place, the bridge continues to be open to pedestrians, however cyclists and e-scooter users no longer have access over the main deck and will need to push their bikes and scooters across the bridge. Instead, they have to dismount and share the footways with pedestrians.

H&F Council approved a further investment of £3.5m to progress concept design and associated Phase 2 works for the full strengthening and restoration of Hammersmith Bridge, which would allow the return of motor vehicles and buses.

Again, the council is to initially fund this capital expenditure of £3.5m through borrowing, in anticipation of the government and TFL paying their shares.

“These funds will allow us to continue the work that we’ve been doing to repair the bridge and to progress to stage II – the strengthening and restoration works”, said Cllr Wesley Harcourt, Cabinet Member for the Environment.

“This work in particular is going to allow us to look at the feasibility design of the Fosters/COWI proposal and to look at the risk involved in that, including the geotechnical investigation of the riverbed under the current foundations, crowd loading studies and looking at how traffic is likely to work in the development of any toll or road user charging scheme. This money allows us to progress all that work.”

The Phase 1 stabilisation works are expected to be completed by the end of October 2022.