 In 1934 a temporary footbridge which had previously been used during rebuilding works on Lambeth Bridge was moved into place alongside Chelsea Bridge , and demolition began . The new bridge , also called Chelsea Bridge , was designed by LCC architects G. Topham Forrest and E. P. Wheeler and built by Holloway Brothers ( London ) . Much wider than the older bridge at 64 feet ( 20 m ) wide , it has a 40 @-@ foot ( 12 m ) wide roadway and two 12 @-@ foot ( 3 @.@ 7 m ) wide pavements cantilevered out from the sides of the bridge . Uniquely in London , Chelsea Bridge is a self @-@ anchored suspension bridge , the first of the type to be built in Britain . The horizontal stresses are absorbed by stiffening girders in the deck itself and the suspension cables are not anchored to the ground , relieving stress on the abutments which are built on soft and unstable London clay . The piers of the new bridge were built on the site of the old bridge 's piers , and are built of concrete , faced with granite above the low @-@ water point . Each side of the bridge has a single suspension cable , each made up of 37 17 ⁄ 8 @-@ inch ( 23mm ) diameter wire ropes bundled to form a hexagonal cable . As was agreed with the Ministry of Transport , all materials used in the bridge came from the British Empire ; the steel came from Scotland and Yorkshire , the granite of the piers from Aberdeen and Cornwall , the timbers of the deck from British Columbia and the asphalt of the roadway from Trinidad . 
