Rare bridge lift honour for young engineering scholars
Two students with a passion for engineering got to lift Tower Bridge as part of a prestigious scholarship supported by City Bridge Foundation.
- Published: 10 April 2025
The foundation is sponsoring 17-year-olds Keerthana and Taran for the Arkwright Engineering Scholarship – the most esteemed scholarship of its type in the UK.
The pair, both from Barnet, were given the rare honour of lifting the iconic bridge to allow the Singaporean vessel Green Pioneer, powered by zero-carbon ammonia, to pass underneath.
As well as enjoying visits to some of the foundation’s five bridges, the pair will also benefit from advice and support from their own dedicated mentor from the charity’s engineering team.
Keerthana said: “The sponsorship and mentoring is really valuable to me because it gives me the opportunity to get advice from someone with a lot of experience, and that can really help me with my future.
“It was great to visit Tower Bridge and see things that people don’t usually see, especially when we got to raise the bridge. That was something I’ll remember for a long time.”
Taran, who first got into engineering aged seven when he used a circuit board to create a simple torch to help conquer his fear of the dark, said raising the bridge made him feel like ‘the king of the world’.
He said: “I really enjoyed the bridge visit and getting to meet everyone – it was a unique experience. I’m very thankful for the scholarship and it’s really useful having a mentor who I can come to for advice, support or help with uni applications.”
During their visit, the budding engineers, who had to undergo a rigorous selection process to get their Arkwright scholarships, enjoyed a behind-the-scenes tour of Tower Bridge from bridge driver Sam and welcome host Edinam.
It included exploring inside the high-level walkways, the towers and engine rooms as well as descending into the bridges’ bascule chambers – the cavernous spaces into which the bascules, or moving parts of the bridge, descend when the bridge is raised.
Tom Creed, City Bridge Foundation’s group engineer, who is mentoring the Arkwright Scholars, said: “It was a real pleasure to give Keerthana and Taran the chance to lift Tower Bridge and see some of its hidden spaces.
“As an organisation which looks after five bridges, including one with moving parts, we’ve got a lot of engineering experience and we’re really pleased to be able to use that to guide our two scholars as they look ahead to a successful career.”