How was the Millennium Eye built ? London Eye History

The Millennium Eye, or London Eye, is unique among observation Ferris wheels. All of the wheel’s main components were built separately off-site and came from six different countries. They were then floated on barges up the River Thames to the Eye’s South Bank location, which presented some challenges – once loaded onto trailers each capsule measured 4.9 metres (16 feet) tall, requiring careful route planning on their journey to avoid low bridges. The Eye was assembled horizontally on platforms in the river next to the site, with a massive floating crane lifting the rim sections into place. Once the wheel was assembled, the Eye was raised upright using hydraulic strand jacks. There was a hiccup as a temporary cable snapped, but over the course of a week the Eye was raised in stages and secured, before the capsules were attached to the rim.