The Rolling Bridge, Paddington Basin

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In the middle of the Paddington Basin lies an innocuous-looking steel and timber footbridge, 12 metres long, allowing people to move and cross the arms of the Grand Union Canal that finish at Paddington.

However, if you visit Paddington Basin at Noon on a Friday, you will see this hitherto ordinary looking bridge start to lift at one end and curl upwards until it rolls back on itself entirely, forming an upright octagon, and allowing boats to pass through.

The bridge won the 2005 British Structural Steel Award. Please click on the thumbnail panorama below to view the bridge in its 'uncurled' state.