The earliest-surviving Brunel-designed cast-iron bridge is set to be given a new lease of life as part of plans to improve pedestrian links to an office and residential development in Paddington.

The structure, built in 1838 to carry horse-drawn vehicles over the new Great Western Railway lines at Paddington, was rediscovered in 2004 after being hidden for decades within a modern brick road bridge. British Waterways last week submitted a planning application to reinstate the 10.7m-span bridge – at a narrower width – on a nearby site by the canal in Paddington, where ~Westminster City Council~ wants to improve pedestrian access.

It is currently stored in an English Heritage yard in Portsmouth while the planning application, including a café on the bridge deck, is considered – and the £3M needed can be raised. The 200th anniversary of Brunel’s birth is on 9 April.

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