Fascinating story behind the London Eye’s £67 inception – and its global impact

IT was the pipe dream that transformed the capital’s skyline – and it cost only £67 to get the project rolling. Celebrating the 25th anniversary of its opening today, the success of the London Eye has spawned copycats in Dubai, Las Vegas and China, while Mumbai is now planning its own version.

Initially only expected to last five years, to this day it continues to attract more than three million visitors a year. A new short film “Turning 25: London’s Eye” features the likes of actors David Harewood and Russell Tovey narrating heartfelt stories from Londoners about what the Eye means to them. Through a combination of archival and contemporary footage, it illustrates how London and the Eye, now nearly as iconic as Big Ben and St Paul’s Cathedral, have evolved together.

One of the Eye’s architects, Julia Barfield, 72, revealed that the germ of the idea came from her “partner in life and work” David Marks, back in the early 1990s.

Speaking from her south London home ahead of the film’s release, she recalled: “I said to him, well, that’s a great idea – let’s put it in the centre of London!

“If you draw a circle around Greater London, you’ll find its centre is virtually there, on the South Bank.

“Historically that’s where the Festival of Britain was, and it’s by the river, which is a key reason why London is where it is.”

While the Festival of Britain brought optimism to Britain’s post-war economy in the summer of 1951, the area where the once iconic Dome of Discovery and Skylon had stood became neglected once again.

“There was also a statistic that one-and-a-half million people used to go halfway across Westminster Bridge, take a picture of the Houses of Parliament, and then go back to the north of the river,” Julia continues.

“So part of the project was not only celebrating London and seeing London from a great height, but also regenerating the South Bank. And I think one could argue that it has done that. So there were many reasons to put it there.

“The idea of the wheel was all about celebrating London, and seeing London from a new perspective, which was changing very quickly at the time. You could walk up hundreds of steps to the top of St Paul’s but not everyone can do that.”

The couple saw the wheel – “a circle with no beginning or end” – as a fitting concept for the year 2000.

They entered an architectural competition in 1993 with some early blueprints. It was a labour of love.

“We entered the competition but didn’t win,” Julia smiles.

“In fact, nobody won. The exhibition organizers didn’t think any of the ideas were good enough, but we disagreed. And so we set up on our own.

“We called it the Millennium Wheel Company and applied for planning permission.”

This brave decision was followed by a good omen for the couple: a generous planning expert charged them less than a meal-for-two to launch an idea that would change London forever.

“I remember a conversation with the planner, trying to determine how much our fee would be,” Julia recalls.

“I explained it was a 500ft wheel on the South Bank, suspended over the River.

“I thought he would think we were mad, but after about 20 minutes he came back to us and said: ‘Oh just £67, the minimum fee!’ It was just as well really, because we probably couldn’t have afforded more.” The Evening Standard got wind of the idea and started a campaign to back it.

Then British Airways got on board and put up a £600,000 loan, allowing the architects to fund engineering studies to prove it could work. “David bought his first suit to go and see the bankers to try to secure funding,” says Julia.

“Getting the money was actually the most difficult thing, because no British banks would lend it to us. In the end, it was a German bank and a Japanese bank that lent the money, which they got back of course.” Working with the “brilliant” structural engineer Jane Wernick, the campaign gathered steam.

However, its main opponent appeared to be Lord St John of Fawsley, who was chairman of the Royal Fine Art Commission at the time.

Julie recalls: “We got a letter from his secretary apologizing for how rude he’d been to us, because he really hated it, and he didn’t give a chance for anyone else to speak up for us. “But then English Heritage supported the idea, saying they had a responsibility to not only protect the heritage of the past, but also promote the heritage of the future. They had a very progressive view of what English Heritage was all about, which was fortunate for us.” And with the approval of Tony Blair’s new Labour government, the ambitious project finally got the go-ahead.

The £70million wheel, made from British steel, but with components and expertise from six European countries, was constructed in sections which were then floated up the Thames on barges and assembled lying flat on piled platforms in the river.

The only major dramas during construction involving a snapped cable and difficulties hauling the frame from where it lay over the river, prompting Richard Branson to launch a Virgin Airlines airship overthe site with the message “BA Can’t Get It Up” in a humorous jab at the sponsor.

A good sport, Julia recalls it being “quite funny, but I think the issue really showed what a feat of engineering it was to actually raise this thing.

“Engineers reckoned it was the biggest structure that had ever been lifted like that. That was one of the biggest challenges, although there were many others.”

The Prime Minister formally opened the London Eye with a laser beam across the Thames on December 31, 1999, but the public were not allowed on board for three months due to teething problems.

When it finally opened to the public on March 9, 2000, it was an instant success.

As it only had a five-year lease, Julia and David designed it in a way that it could be unbolted and moved elsewhere.

But in the end it proved so popular it was given permanent status.

David died from cancer aged 64 in 2017. They had been married 36 years.

One of Julia’s most poignant memories was sitting on a bench alongside her Swedish-born husband watching as theEye was slowly hauled up.

“It almost felt like you could reach out and touch it. That was pretty amazing. We couldn’t quite believe that we’d actually done it. It was pretty extraordinary.

“I’m sad he’s not with us to celebrate 25 years – he was taken far too young. But he did get to enjoy a long period of it and we had a great 50th birthday party on it!”

Asked about copycat wheels that sprang up across the globe, the architect points out unique features that set the Eye apart.“The capsules are on the outside, so it wasn’t just an ordinary Ferris Wheel. We always called it an observation wheel, because being on the outside was quite key. That was one of the main innovations – that your view is 360 degrees.

“It’s completely uninterrupted by structure, like being on top of a mountain in the middle of the city. There’s something very mind-expanding about long views.”

While skyscrapers continue to spring up across London, Julia doubts such a risky project would be approved today. “It was a unique time, it was the millennium, and I think that’s why it happened.

“It was about welcoming the 21st century into London, saying that London was a city for the 21st century.”

Julia diplomatically declines to give an opinion on the architectural merits of The Shard, the Renzo Piano-designed building which stole the Eye’s claim to the highest view in London.

And despite having been superseded by the 804ft high observation deck on The Shard’s 72nd floor, the view from the London Eye remains magnificent.

And Julia is optimistic her wheel can keep spinning for another 25 years.

“Perhaps it could do with a lick of paint, but that’s about it,” she quips.

“David was very tenacious. He never gave up and the Eye is a testament to that.”