LONDON EYE Diego André Soto Salazar

HISTORY The London Eye, also known as the Millennium Wheel, is a 135 meter tower located on the Western Edge of the Jubilee Gardens, on the South Bank of the Thames. After the works were completed in 1999 and open to the public in March 2000, it was the largest in the world until the opening of the Nanchang Star in May 2006 and the subsequent Singapore Flyer in Jubilee Gardens

WHO CREATE IT? The London Eye was designed by architects Frank Anatole, Nic Bailey, Steve Chilton, Malcolm Cook, Mark Sparrowhawk, Julia Barfield and David Marks. The consulting engineers of Tony Gee & Partners designed the foundations while Beckett Rankine designed the maritime works. The London Eye was formally opened by then Prime Minister Tony Blair on 31 December 1999.Prime MinisterTony Blair On 5 June 2008 it was announced that 30 million people had ridden the London Eye since it opened.

The estructure have 32 capsules sealed and heated,it can hold up to 25 persons that are free to walk inside, the wheel rotates at 26 cm per second (about 0.9 kph or 0.6 mph) so that one revolution takes about 30 minutes. 8 meters long and 4 meters in diameter p/capsule. Passenger Capsules

FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES On 20 May 2005, there were reports of the South Bank Centre owners of part of the land on which the struts of the Eye are located, had served a notice to quit on the attraction along with a demand for an increase in rent from £64,000 per year to £2.5 million, The South Bank Centre and the British Airways London Eye agreed on a 25- year lease on 8 February 2006 after a judicial review over the rent dispute. The lease agreement meant that the South Bank Centre, would receive at least £500,000 a year from the attraction.South Bank Centre

OWNERSHIP AND BRANDING Marks BarfieldMarks Barfield (the lead architects), The Tussauds Group, and British Airways were the original owners of the London EyeBritish Airways In May 2007, the Blackstone Group purchased The Tussauds Group which was then the owner of the Eye; Tussauds was merged with Blackstone's Merlin Entertainments and disappeared as an entity.Blackstone GroupMerlin Entertainments In September 2014, Coca-Cola signed an agreement to sponsor the London Eye for two years, starting from January On the day of the announcement, the London Eye was lit in redCoca-Cola