CJL
Well-Known Member
http://www.maritimejournal.com/feat...ruction/river-thames-should-be-londons-artery
River Thames should be London’s ‘artery’
06 Nov 2012
Now is the time to show the advantages of using the Thames as an artery across London for heavy lifting and transportation says Chris Livett of Livett’s Launches, adding that there’s plenty of room for it.
He should know. Livett’s was appointed by Balfour Beatty as principal marine services provider for the truly massive Blackfriars Bridge and Network Rail redevelopment project and has spent the past three years transforming the site.
Mr Livett said, “The river is a four lane highway that we are just not making the most of.” He explained that although 80,000 tonnes of construction material moved to and from the site, not one extra lorry was put on London’s roads.
“In fact, using the roads would have been impossible because of the shapes and sizes of these pieces of kit he added. “Now is the time to get the message through to Thames Water that the river is the right option. We can use Blackfriars and other projects as case studies to show that it can be done. They have some very tricky sites to feed and it makes perfect sense to put things on the water.”
Mr Livett believes that the use of the river for freight transportation is key for not only utilising London’s assets to assist projects like this, but to improve infrastructure, congestion and road safety in London, particularly for cyclists, by reducing numbers of lorries on the city’s roads.
“There is something of a renaissance going on. We are looking at four different, large jobs using the Thames to transport construction materials and spoil. The first one is the Battersea railway bridge, which also has plans for a public footpath running along it.
“Then there will be a lot of spoil coming out of Fulham. Vauxhall has a new residential development, and there is the Battersea Power Station development along with the refurbishment of the Northern Line tube and the whole of the Nine Elms quarter, all of which will be using the river.”
The biggest project, however, will be the Thames Tideway Tunnel to which Mr Livett referred earlier. It doesn’t sound dramatic but is actually a super sewer involving four main hub sites stretching between Putney and Greenwich, which will result in at least 2m tonnes of spoil from the build that will need to be transported by barge.
These projects together look likely to employ some 9,000 people and treble the amount of freight on the Thames over the next five years.
River Thames should be London’s ‘artery’
06 Nov 2012
Now is the time to show the advantages of using the Thames as an artery across London for heavy lifting and transportation says Chris Livett of Livett’s Launches, adding that there’s plenty of room for it.
He should know. Livett’s was appointed by Balfour Beatty as principal marine services provider for the truly massive Blackfriars Bridge and Network Rail redevelopment project and has spent the past three years transforming the site.
Mr Livett said, “The river is a four lane highway that we are just not making the most of.” He explained that although 80,000 tonnes of construction material moved to and from the site, not one extra lorry was put on London’s roads.
“In fact, using the roads would have been impossible because of the shapes and sizes of these pieces of kit he added. “Now is the time to get the message through to Thames Water that the river is the right option. We can use Blackfriars and other projects as case studies to show that it can be done. They have some very tricky sites to feed and it makes perfect sense to put things on the water.”
Mr Livett believes that the use of the river for freight transportation is key for not only utilising London’s assets to assist projects like this, but to improve infrastructure, congestion and road safety in London, particularly for cyclists, by reducing numbers of lorries on the city’s roads.
“There is something of a renaissance going on. We are looking at four different, large jobs using the Thames to transport construction materials and spoil. The first one is the Battersea railway bridge, which also has plans for a public footpath running along it.
“Then there will be a lot of spoil coming out of Fulham. Vauxhall has a new residential development, and there is the Battersea Power Station development along with the refurbishment of the Northern Line tube and the whole of the Nine Elms quarter, all of which will be using the river.”
The biggest project, however, will be the Thames Tideway Tunnel to which Mr Livett referred earlier. It doesn’t sound dramatic but is actually a super sewer involving four main hub sites stretching between Putney and Greenwich, which will result in at least 2m tonnes of spoil from the build that will need to be transported by barge.
These projects together look likely to employ some 9,000 people and treble the amount of freight on the Thames over the next five years.
