Women’s work: the action group re-mapping London based on the women who designed and built it

I have walked across Waterloo Bridge countless times, but until now I had no idea that it was built by women. An estimated 350 of them worked on the bridge during the Second World War, taking on vital construction roles while men were serving on the frontlines. But when it officially opened in December 1945, it was only the men who went down in history for their work on the project.

“It was almost like they tried to cover it up,” Alice Brownfield, director at Peter Barber Architects, tells me. The women of Waterloo Bridge went unheralded until social historian Christine Wall unearthed photos of the lady builders. She then collaborated with filmmaker Karen Livesey to interview their descendants for a documentary, The Ladies’ Bridge.