The London Port of Authority (PLA) have completed the refurbishment work at Richmond's Lock & Weir.

Approximately £500K was used to redecorate the bridge and on February 24, PLA announced that the bridge and the walkways have re-opened.

The PLA’s Lee Walker explained: “This has been the most thorough repaint in twenty five years.

"Given the age of this magnificent example of Victorian engineering we decided to go over and above the 1994 repaint.

“This has included thorough painting of the external structure including the application of some 3,500 litres of paint.

"The operational areas are all sound and the repainting of the exterior has gone well. However the scaffolding used to ensure good access for our painting team has revealed some non-operational areas are showing more weathering than we had hoped.

“We therefore need to keep scaffolding in place and extend painting into the New Year. We recognise this will cause some continued inconvenience to people who enjoy walking across the footbridge. We now expect to finally complete by late February 2020. Our aim is to ensure this much loved local icon remains looking good and corrosion free well into the next part of the twenty first century.”

The Port of London Authority (PLA) which manages the 125 year old structure over the Thames originally hoped to complete all work before the end of 2019.