Why glass lift for Humber Bridge is still up in the air
THE NEW chief executive of the Humber Bridge has spelled out plans to make it more of a visitor attraction – but proposals for a glass lift are still up in the air.
Dr Kevin Moore, formerly director of the National Football Museum in Manchester, took over earlier this year.
East Riding councillors rejected plans last year for the lift, set to offer a ride to the top of the Humber Bridge in a glass gondola, because the wider scheme included a 60,000 sq ft office development.
Dr Moore said plans for the glass lift were under review, but they were still looking at taking people up the Hessle Tower for the impressive views and down into the anchorages.
He said there had been a “little too much” focus on going to the top of the tower when many people didn’t like heights, and said visitors were as impressed with the anchorages, which were “incredible cathedral-like spaces.”
“We want to interpret the bridge in a more rounded way because it is an amazing icon of British engineering,” he said.
“The potential is so enormous. We can do something in the next year or two, but this will grow just as The Deep (visitor attraction in Hull) has showed. You have to keep improving and developing it. This isn’t done in one go; it could take up to 10 years before we finally develop the lorry park at the top of the site.
“It will be done in phases and we will be able to sustain visitor numbers and bring them back.
One thing we are definitely not doing is having an office block. Dr Kevin Moore, chief executive of the Humber Bridge.
It’s the potential that is so exciting.” As revealed in The Yorkshire
Post, a hotel is still part of the plan, as is a visitor centre, but the office element, which the East Riding Council rejected, has been dropped.
Dr Moore said they were working together with East Riding Council, which owns the adjacent 40-acre Humber Bridge Country Park.
“One thing we are definitely not doing is having an office block, or anything that isn’t leisure or tourism,” he added.
The visitor centre would help children explore science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) as well as the arts.
“You look at something like the Humber Bridge and you can’t just see it in terms of STEM, it is a beautiful piece of architecture as well. When the bridge was being created architects were brought in to curve the towers.
“There is so much we can explore within a visitor centre.”
The new plans should be ready by the end of the year following a “masterplanning” exercise and consultation, which will include the local town council and the public.