The British Airways London Eye, sometimes called the Millennium Wheel (Coordinates: 51°30′12″N, 00°07′11″W), is the first-built and largest observation wheel in the world (a type of Ferris wheel), and has been the only one since its opening at the end of 1999. It stands 135 metres (443 feet) high on the western end of Jubilee Gardens, on the South Bank of the River Thames in Lambeth, London, England, between Westminster and Hungerford Bridges. It is adjacent to London's County Hall, and stands opposite the offices of the Ministry of Defence.
Designed by architects David Marks, Julia Barfield, Malcolm Cook, Mark Sparrowhawk, Steven Chilton, and Nic Bailey, the wheel carries 32 sealed and air conditioned passenger capsules attached to its external circumference. It rotates at a rate of 0.26 metres per second (about 0.9 km/h or 0.6 mph) so that one revolution takes about 30 minutes to complete. The wheel does not usually stop to take on passengers; the rotation rate is so slow that passengers can easily walk on and off the moving capsules at ground level. It is, however, stopped on occasion to allow disabled or elderly passengers time to disembark safely. Structurally, the Eye resembles a huge spoked bicycle wheel, and was depicted as such in a poster advertising a charity cycle race. The wheel is not the first in London; a much smaller ferris wheel used to stand opposite Earls Court station during the later part of the 19th century.
The wheel was constructed in sections which were floated up the river Thames on barges and assembled lying flat on pontoons. Once the wheel was complete it was raised into its upright position by cranes, initially being lifted at a rate of about 2 degrees per hour until it reached 65 degrees. It was left in that position for a week while engineers prepared for the second phase of the lift. The total weight of steel in the Eye is 1,700 tonnes.
The Eye was opened by British Prime Minister Tony Blair on December 31, 1999, although it was not opened to the public until March 2000 because of technical problems. Since its opening, the Eye, operated by Tussauds Group but sponsored by British Airways, has become a major landmark and tourist attraction. Recently, The London Eye was voted the world's best tourist attraction in a poll commissioned by the snack company Pringles.
The Eye enjoyed a warmer reception from the British public upon its opening than London's other significant Millennium project, the Dome, although the delay in opening had caused some press scepticism. By July 2002 around 8.5 million people had "flown" the Eye. It originally had planning permission only for five years, but at that time Lambeth Council agreed plans to make the attraction permanent.
Although the Eye is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the tallest observation wheel in the world, it is unlikely to keep that title for long. Plans have been announced to build a 170 m wheel on the Las Vegas Strip and a 200 m wheel in Shanghai. (By comparison, the original 1893 Ferris wheel was 75 m high).
The Tussauds Group own 66% of the Eye, with its creators holding the remainder. British Airways initially held a 33% in the attraction, but sold this to the Tussauds Group in November 2005 for £95m. The airline remains the principal sponsor of the attraction, however, and extended its franchise at the same time as it divested its interest.