The pier was designed by Beckett Rankine and
Marks Barfield Architects and built by
Tilbury Douglas, principally to act as a collision protection system for the London Eye. It was one of five new piers opened in 2000 on the Thames funded by the
Millennium Commission as part of the Thames 2000 project (the others being
Blackfriars Millennium Pier,
Millbank Millennium Pier,
Tower Millennium Pier, and
Westminster Millennium Pier), as part of an integrated transport and regeneration strategy for the Thames led by London's
Cross River Partnership. ==Services==