This Land and Water project required the installation of safety chains, ladders and timber fenders on City Mills River and Waterworks River. The works were carried out using a floating pontoon and mounted hiab. Close liaison with the lock keeper regarding boat movements and water levels awareness was critical as these changed daily depending upon the works being carried out and the tidal effect of the Thames at Three Mills Lock.

The project also include the restoration of four timber dolphins, which were repaired using FSC timber. 80% of the existing brackets were salvaged to be reused on the repair of the structure. Vegetation works were also carried out on Wharton Road, which transformed a muddy, unsightly bank into a pretty wetland habitat by installing hazel faggots, planted coir rolls and planted pallets to spruce up the bank.

The biggest challenged was the installation of 22 number 508 mm dia. mooring piles, 13 number 273 dia. marker piles and 6 number 406mm dia. mooring piles along Waterworks River. This work was carried out by Land & Water Plant’s bespoke crane and hiab pontoon. Our floating crane pontoon was also used to dismantle an existing wharf pontoon to allow its relocation elsewhere on the British Waterways network.

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Land & Water were contracted by British Waterways to ensure all winding holes on the Grand Union Leicester Line and Oxford canals were maintained to current safety standards.

These winding holes had silted up over time and so a dredging operation was carried out using Land & Water’s specialist narrow beam dredging equipment.

Bank erosion had also occurred over time and this was repaired using value engineering methods which were able to re-use ALL of the dredged silts. Land & Water used ‘Nicospan’, a geotextile liner which was anchored using FSC 6-8ft lengths of 400mm round, treated timber posts. The bank was re-constructed by installing woven geotextile into which sediments from the canal were placed.

These canal banks were then left to vegetate naturally binding and stabilising over time to give a long lasting, aesthetic and environmental result.