The King boards Thames Clipper to visit the Tideway Tunnel Project
Published
The King boarded a hybrid Thames Clipper and met a small group of employees and apprentices as he made his way to view the Thames Tideway Tunnel project; colloquially known as London’s ‘super sewer’.
During the ten-minute Thames Clipper journey, His Majesty had the opportunity to hear about the positive impact the hybrid vessel has for sustainable river transport. The River Bus service provider has three hybrid vessels that operate on battery power in Central London, then recharge whilst continuing their journeys outside of this zone.
Arriving at the Tideway project, The King met several construction workers. More than 25,000 people have been involved in the construction of the project on 24 individual construction sites, from Acton in west London to Stratford in the east, over a decade.
The Thames Tideway Tunnel has been switched on to protect the River Thames from sewage. The project is designed to prevent sewage pollution, improve water quality and support London’s growth for generations to come. The new system has already captured more than six million tonnes of storm sewage.
On Bazalgette Embankment – the largest of a set of new public spaces which cover the ‘super sewer’s’ underground infrastructure – The King saw the benefits to biodiversity, and riverside legacy, that the new recreation environment will bring. 71 trees and 3,000 plants have been planted, and cleaner water will provide a better environment for species to live in and thrive, supporting the 125 different types of fish in the Thames, as well as allowing a healthier environment for rowing, kayaking and paddle-boarding.
London’s sewerage network was originally created by Sir Joseph Bazalgette, the Chief Engineer of London's Metropolitan Board of Works. The new ‘Bazalgette Embankment’ hopes to reflect the history of the network, and at the tunnel ventilation columns, The King spoke to poet Dorothea Smartt, whose poetry about the Thames is printed on the ventilation columns that allow the tunnel ‘to breathe’.
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