Laindon abseilers give Tower Bridge walkways 'extreme clean'

A boss at a specialist cleaning firm has told of his joy at how the undersides of Tower Bridge's high-level glass walkways have "come up" after an "extreme" clean.

Luke Tilbury, a director at LDT Contractors, of Laindon, Essex, said the all-night job was "very out of the ordinary".

Mr Tilbury, 34, and five other specialist abseilers washed the walkway floors just over a week ago.

He said they had "come up really well".

LDT was contracted by the City Bridge Foundation, which manages and maintains some of London's key bridges.

"It's something that had not been done since they were installed about 10 years ago," he told BBC Essex.

"We were tasked to come up with an out-of-the ordinary method."

Mr Tilbury said he did not think the team had "missed a bit".

"It came up really well," he said.

"We were overjoyed."

Mr Tilbury said the team had worked at a height of 33m (108ft) while attached to ropes.

But he said his firm specialised in cleaning high-rise London structures so that height was a "little bit of a baby".

City Bridge Foundation chairman Giles Shilson said the work was a "spectacular sight" for anyone passing by.

"Like any windows subject to London's weather, the glass floors need an occasional scrub to keep them spick and span," he said

"The only practical and safe way to do the job was to call in a specialist firm experienced in working at height and in hard-to-reach spaces.

"The work made for a spectacular sight for anyone who happened to be passing the bridge in the early hours of the morning."

Mr Tilbury added: "It's quite an intricate space to get up to and there was a lot of work that we put into the project in advance, including a trial run at our unit, so that on the night it all ran like a well-oiled machine.

"It's been a huge privilege to work on such an iconic landmark and to be the first company to get up there to clean the underside of the glass floor is a great honour."

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