The London Project Canary Wharf | Dock, Lock and River Blog (#dlr

…. and that is boats made out of concrete rather than boats that carry concrete!!

Using concrete might not seem the best of materials to use to build a boat but has happened for nearly 200 albeit in relatively small numbers as whilst fairly inexpensive to build they are less efficient. More information about the history of these craft can be seen here.

Over the course of the last few months a pair of concrete “buildings” had appeared on Albert Island next to the KGV Dock leading to many different theories about what they were – it turns out that these are actually a pair of barges made out of reinforced concrete being constructed on behalf of the Canary Wharf Group.

Not for the first time that the Royal Docks has been the location for the building oF concrete barges – those were Phoenix breakwaters and were destined to play a pivotal role as part of the D-Day landings – the new ones will play an important role but perhaps less of an historical one – but time will tell!!

In comparison to the blocks created for wartime use the modern ones are of a much smaller scale but still impressive to see.

Interestingly the Royal Docks is home to another concrete boat – the Good Hotel is built on a concrete hull and the use of a concrete hull as a base is the plan of these two new constructions – they will be used as the basis for two inter-connected floating restaurants at Wood Wharf in West India Dock – part of the Canary Wharf development.

Part of the challenge of the current project is that the barges are on the dockside of Albert Island but that isn’t where they will be eventually used – as a result you need a lot of specialist people and equipment which includes a very large barge to be able move the two new hulls and the equipment to get them from the shore to the barge.

The transported barge was provided by Tronds Marine Service AS in the shape of TRONDS BARGE 28 which came from Norway and was brought in to the Royal Docks by Thamescraft Dry Docking Services and then positioned alongside Albert Island.

A video of the barge being brought in to the KGV Lock can be seen below and some more pictures of the arrival can be seen here.

The second phase of the operation was to move the concrete hulls, each weighing 1050 tonnes, on to the barge and specialist heavy move company Mammoet were given the task and deployed four Self-Propelled Modular Transporters (SPMT).

The whole process took several hours as the move had to be done in stages to make sure the ballast levels of the barge were changed as the weight of the load increased – lots of careful calculations and lots of measurements to make sure the barge stayed the correct way up!!

With so much weight on the barge it is important to make sure the load is in the correct place so losts of measuring

Sometimes the low-tech solution of a water bottle on the end ot the tape just works….. used to measure the water ballast depth to keep the barge level as the weight of the load shifted

A video compilation of photographs can be seen below:

The following time-lapse video shows one of the concrete hulls being moved on to the transporter barge.

Update on 26th May 2020

The floating transporter barge with the two concrete hulls mounted on it was moved back to the KGV Lock and the next stage of the operation was to float off the two hulls – this required the transporter barge to be flooded with water so that the hulls would float and then they were towed back to the King George V Dock for fitting out.

The operation was planned around the time of the low tide so that the transporter barge could be ballasted down to rest on the bed of the lock to provide a stable platform.

Then the water was slowly fed in to the lock to float off the concrete boxes whilst the barge remained on the lock floor.

After some time the water level in the lock was back up to the level of the dock and the two concrete hulls were free floating.

Then it was time for the DALBY VENTURE to come forward and connect to each block in turn to tow them back in to the KGV Dock where they will continue the fitting out process.

The following time-lapse video shows the transporter barge being flooded, the new hulls floating off and then being towed away.

Update 30th May 2020

The transporter barge has now left the Royal Docks following the arrival of EMS TUG to take the barge across the North Sea for it’s next job.

Update Mid August 2020 – steel frames completed and wall and window panels starting to be installed.

Update end September 2020 – work on wall and window panels continues and block being turned in dock to make dock edge access easier.

Update November 2020 – work to fit glazing moving ahead.

Update mid March 2021 – works on the main structure appear to be mostly complete and fitting out taking place.

Update mid April 2021 – the two units are now ready to be moved to Canary Wharf for integration with the Wood Wharf project. Thamescraft tugs DEVOUT and EMILIA D return to the Docks to move the blocks up the Thames to West India Dock.