Boost For Water Freight In London
25 November 2008
British Waterways today welcomed a £2 million boost from the government to support environment-friendly water freight in London.
Waterways Minister Huw Irranca-Davies announced the funding today as part of a visit to Prescott Lock and Water Control Structure.
The new lock development will help secure a water freight route along the River Lee Navigation and its tributaries known as the Bow Back Rivers, which flow in and around the Olympic Park in East London.
The money comes from Defra’s Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund, which aims to reduce the environmental impacts of production and transport of gravel, sand and rock, and to benefit areas affected by quarrying.
The state-of-the art lock will provide access to the area for 350-tonne barges, taking hundreds of lorry journeys a week from local roads, saving thousands of tonnes of CO2 and creating a platform for a new ‘Water City’ to emerge in East London. Work on the lock began in March 2007, and it is due for completion in early 2009.
Huw Irranca-Davies said: “We want the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games to be the greenest games ever, and sustainability is at the heart of building the venues and infrastructure.
“By funding the Prescott Lock project we can help boost environment-friendly transport in East London not just for the Games but long into the future.”
British Waterways’ Chief Executive, Robin Evans, added: “The funders of Prescott Lock and Water Control System are very pleased to receive these additional monies from the Aggregates Levy Fund. The funding will go some way towards meeting the additional costs incurred by the project, which have been largely due to the unforeseen amount of contaminated soil and silt on-site, resulting in a costly, but necessary clean-up process.
Prescott Lock will help enable the Olympic Delivery Authority to reach its target of delivering 50% of materials to the Olympic Park by sustainable means. The £2 million from Defra means that we can keep to schedule and deliver a great waterway asset to the people and businesses of East London.”
The Prescott Lock and Water Control Structure is funded by British Waterways, Defra, the Department for Transport, London Thames Gateway Development Corporation, the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) and Transport for London. It will re-establish full navigation on the Bow Back Rivers for the first time in decades. The £20 million project comprises twin water control gates, a 62m x 8m tidal lock, footbridge, lock control building, fish pass and fixed weir.
The lock will open up the rivers in the area for the sustainable movement of materials by water, providing access for barges carrying construction traffic and recyclables between Stratford and the Thames. In the longer term the works will allow new opportunities for leisure boats, water taxis, trip boats and floating restaurants creating a major boating destination in the area.
Construction of the new lock is being managed by British Waterways and undertaken by design and build contractors Volker Stevin Ltd, with a supporting team including Tony Gee & Partners LLP, Bennett Associates, Clague Architects and Weetwood Environmental Engineering. Works began in March 2007 ensuring that the lock is accessible for barge traffic by the start of the peak of the Games construction period. For more information visit: www.britishwaterways.co.uk/olympics.
ENDS
FOR MEDIA INFORMATION CONTACT:
British Waterways Gill Owen T 020 7985 7227 mb 07733 124580
Ed Fox T 020 7985 7226 mb 07801 049829
NOTES TO EDITORS:
• Prescott Channel takes its name from a past Chairman of the Lee Conservancy Board, which carried out the last major works to the waterways in the 1930s.
• Prescott Lock is part of a £50m programme of waterway restoration and construction being undertaken by British Waterways and its partners. The others include: the Helix Project, the Droitwich Canals, the Liverpool Link and the Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal.
• British Waterways cares for and manages 100 miles of canals and rivers and 110 acres of docks in London. As a not-for-dividend public corporation it works with a broad range of public, private and voluntary sector partners to unlock the potential of the inland waterways for the benefit of the millions who visit and care for them. www.britishwaterways.co.uk
• Civil engineering and building contractor, Volker Stevin ltd., is a group company of VolkerWessels, one of the largest construction groups in Europe. Founded in 1934, Volker Stevin has a turnover of £75m and employs more than 400 people throughout the UK. Built on experience and a large professional in-house team, Volker Stevin provides project solutions across a wide variety of sectors including civil engineering, land remediation and regeneration, the water infrastructure and marine sectors and commercial and industrial property building. The company has built a reputation in the industry for providing total service solutions at the early stages of projects coupled with its award winning quality and environmental policies. For more information about Volker Stevin see www.volkerstevin.co.uk.