Mace wins contract to build London’s cable car
BUILDERS will start work on a cable car across the Thames during the summer, the Mayor of London Boris Johnson confirmed today.
Mace, the construction group that built the London Eye, will lead the work on the route linking Greenwich to the Royal Victoria Docks that is set to cost more than £40m.
Mace will be joined by Austrian cable car specialists Dopplemayr, Watson Steel, URS Scott Wilson, Buro Happold and Aedas.
TfL said yesterday the consortium hopes to deliver the scheme before the 2012 Olympics but warned that “this remains an extremely challenging timeline for a complex project”.
TfL also today invited commercial partners to sponsor the project, which includes the right to name the crossing. The winning bidder will be announced later this year.
The cable car, 164 feet above the river, will take around five minutes to travel between the O2 and ExCel centre and is expected to carry up to 2,500 passengers an hour.
Boris Johnson said in a statement: “This innovative airborne travel link will be a vital component in the ongoing renaissance of a vibrant easterly quarter of the Capital, providing a much needed river crossing. I am thrilled we are full steam ahead to start work on this project.”