illuminated from inside at night. Much of the building is clad in stainless steel and glass. The Lowry was described as "not quite 'Salford's Guggenheim' ... It is ultimately too small and too well behaved ... although there are obvious shared aims", a reference to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, which was built for similar reasons. The Lowry footbridge spanning the ship canal was designed and project managed by Parkman, with design support from Carlos Fernandez Casado. It is a lift bridge with a clear span of , which lifts vertically to provide a clearance for shipping using the canal. The bridge span is a tied arch and the towers are constructed in tubular steelwork to provide an open aspect to view the lifting counterweight and sheaves. In November 2015, the Lowry opened a new bar and restaurant, called Pier 8, after a 12-week closure on the original bar and restaurant. The new space cost £3m to develop and is part of an ongoing £5m investment programme to improve facilities and reduce the environmental footprint of the complex. The new features include a zinc topped curving bar with room to seat 150 people for casual dining. The bar also has a feature tree with leaves made from cotton, to commemorate Salford Quays’ history at the centre of the cotton shipping industry. The new restaurant contains seven private booths, a newly designed open kitchen, and a second large room at the rear which can be opened up to accommodate more diners or private functions. Major structural changes have taken place in the building for the design, including the removal of a large staircase and the addition of an external entrance to the bar and restaurant, as well as added areas made to look like shipping containers. Gallery The complex contains of gallery space devoted to the permanent collection of works by L. S. Lowry, as well as other temporary exhibitions. Most of the L. S. Lowry works were originally collected from the 1930s onwards by Salford Museum and Art Gallery, and the collection was transferred to the new purpose-built museum when it opened in 2000. The collection includes about 400 pieces in oil, pastel and watercolours from all periods of Lowry's career. Noted works on display include: Coming from the Mill (watercolour c.1917-18) Coming from the Mill (oil on canvas, 1930) Going to the Match (oil on canvas, 1953) The Cripples