Repairing Hammersmith Bridge could take a decade and cost £200m

Repairs to Hammersmith Bridge could cost £200 million and take a decade, according to reports in The Telegraph. 

Work to repair the 135-year-old bridge began in 2019 by Hammersmith and Fulham Council, but in a report in The Telegraph it was revealed that the works could take until the 2030s to complete. 

The Government pledged to invest £3 million into helping to repair the bridge to help fully reopen the bridge. 

A council spokesperson told The Telegraph that if the application to install a temporary double-decker structure while segments of the original Grade II-listed bridge underneath are taken away is granted, it would be 2025 before a construction firm is appointed and likely 2027 when the temporary structure opens. 

Then the cost would increase again from £140 million to around £200 million due to a series of factors including the high levels of inflation and the war in Ukraine. 

A spokesperson said to The Telegraph: "It would be much better if people focused on sorting out the funding and left the world-leading engineers, that we have employed, to work at pace on what is a uniquely challenging project. 

"We are getting on with fixing the bridge as quickly as possible despite the conditions imposed on us." 

It was announced by Hammersmith and Fulham Council in March 2023 that world-leading experts had been hired to put in steel support frames to help stabilise the process, but this report shows that this process will continue to drag on.