Of the 50-plus new bridges built with the support of the Millennium Commission, perhaps the most impressive of all is the Gateshead Millennium Bridge that links Newcastle’s north bank with the new arts and cultural quarter that is Gateshead Quays.

Designed by Wilkinson and Eyre Architects and Gifford and Partners, the tilting bridge is made up of a pair of curved steel arches – one forming the pedestrian deck and cycle path, the other the supporting deck that arcs over the river – which pivot around their common springing points like a slowly opening eye to allow shipping to pass beneath.

When it was officially opened in 2002, there was only one way to mark the moment – representatives of the local authorities on either side of the Tyne met in the middle of the new landmark.

“The Gateshead Millennium Bridge isn’t simply a monumental piece of architecture – it helped bring two communities together”

Elegant and functional, the project won the prestigious RIBA Stirling Prize for architecture in 2002, and its magnificent engineering has since attracted visitors from all round the world.

• The Gateshead Millennium Bridge has concrete foundations weighing 19,000 tonnes
• It is powered by eight electric motors
• It contains enough steel to make 64 double-decker buses