Victorian bridge in London wrapped in foil to stop it from cracking in extreme heat

• A 135-year-old Victorian bridge has been wrapped in silver foil to keep it cool during a heat wave.
• The local council said it wanted to keep Hammersmith Bridge at a "safe temperature."

A Victorian bridge in London was wrapped in foil in an attempt stop it from cracking as the UK faced a heat wave this week that could break its high-temperature records.

The 135-year-old Hammersmith Bridge was wrapped in silver insulation foil that "reflects the sun," the Hammersmith and Fulham Council said last week.

The council wants to keep the bridge open and working as temperatures of up to 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit, or 38 degrees Celsius, are forecast in London for Tuesday; 104-degree heat is forecast elsewhere in England. The highest temperature recorded in the UK was 101.66 degrees Fahrenheit in 2019.

The UK's Met Office has issued a "red warning for exceptional heat" for the first time ever.

The foil is part of a "pioneering £420,000 temperature-control system" designed to keep the bridge at a "safe temperature," the council said, adding that the bridge had to be closed completely in August 2020 after hot temperatures then caused tiny cracks in its cast-iron pedestals. The system also involves a cooling feature that works overnight.

The bridge is open only to pedestrians and cyclists after it was closed in that 2020 heat wave.

The bridge has four pedestal chains that are anchored to the riverbed. If any one of the chains reaches 64.4 degrees Fahrenheit, "safety engineers will shut the bridge," the council said.

The council said the Hammersmith Bridge was one of the world's oldest suspensions bridges, which makes it among the most expensive in the country to repair.

"The temperature-control system allows us to track weather spikes and maintain a constant temperature," Sebastian Springer, a project manager working on the bridge, said. "As we deal with the current extreme heat, we are also coming up with innovative solutions to keep the temperature within the threshold."