Wow ! The world would surely be a poorer place without the French. Traditional Anglo-French rivalry tends to distort our view of France and her achievements. But, they sure know how to build in a spectacular fashion.
President Jacques Chirac has just opened the world’s highest road bridge in southern France. The Millau bridge is over 300m tall and stretches to a whopping 1.5 miles long. That’s one hell of a bridge. Apparently, Norman Foster, the architect, curved the bridge to allow motorists a better view…
Commentators lament that a project like this would never get off the ground in Britain. We seem to lack the vision and courage to say ‘let’s make it magnificent’. Media whinging and carping at the costs of large scale public works make British politicans wary of being bold and building big. Take attitudes towards the Dome and some of the millenium projects or the new Scottish Parliament. Even the Gherkin has been criticised for being half full. Some tabloids have even been whining about the costs of the 2012 Olympic bid…
Time for the hacks to shut up and for us to learn something from the French and start building big for the sake of it !
So yeah... 