The bridge, when finished, will be two bridges - one placed either side of the existing pig-ugly railway that lurches across the river at this point to its terminus at Charing Cross on the north bank. The upstream half, looking across to the London Eye and the palace of Westminster, has been finished first and is open. The downstream half is still being built and will open in September. Its capacity, then, will be at least twice that of Norman Foster’s Bankside wriggler downstream. Its impact on the demographics of London will be greater still.

What you see is an interestingly syncopated arrangement of tilted white suspension masts, carrying broad flat decks via fans of steel cables. They serve to mask the brutality of the railway bridge, which as an example of graceless, aesthetics-free utility is hard to beat. Nonetheless Alex Lifschutz, the architect responsible for the new bridge, does not shy away from contact with the old structure, either physical or visual. He and his partner Ian Davidson both emerged in the mid 1980s from the Foster and Rogers stables, and have a more inclusive approach than their former bosses. They find the railway interesting, they acknowledge that it tells a story about London. Their additions are merely the latest chapter.