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The charity making life better by water

Tune in to our first ever ‘virtual open day’

On Thursday 10 March we hosted our first ever ‘virtual open day’.

Gate repairs at West India Dock
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"These are the only gates that enable access into Docklands, so it’s a vital project.”

Over the course of a couple of hours we used our twitter feed to guide you through the removal of a massive, 160 tonne lock gate which welcomes vessels from all over the world into London’s Docklands.

Colin Perkins, who is overseeing the project, says: “At other locks around the country we crane the gates out for repairs, but the ones in West India Dock are so big that we have to float them off. The work is very technical, particularly because of the size of the gates and weight of thousands of cubic metres of water. These are the only gates that enable access into Docklands, so it’s a vital project.”

We heard from engineers, harbour masters, divers and more.We also gave an insight into the history of the area and exploring some of the lesser known local points of interest.

What happened on the day

Last Edited: 18 March 2016

photo of a location on the canals
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