HRH The Princess Royal switches on giant water feature as Tideway celebrates Bazalgette Embankment
Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal formally ‘switched on’ a giant water feature at Bazalgette Embankment this week.
The newly-landscaped space, created as part of the super sewer project, is the largest of seven new riverside public parks that have been built out into the Thames.
Housing vital infrastructure below ground, Bazalgette Embankment features a family of striking, integrated artworks by Glasgow-based international artist, Nathan Coley.
One of these sculptures – Waterwall – stands at eight metres in height, and allows visitors to paddle, while the gentle noise of the running water helps mask nearby traffic noise.
And with the work on site substantially complete, The Princess Royal visited the site with senior project staff before formally switching on Waterwall.
Andy Mitchell, Tideway CEO, said: “Bazalgette Embankment is one of the jewels in the crown of the Tideway project – transforming a once-underused stretch of the river into a beautiful public space for Londoners and visitors to enjoy.
“Waterwall is not only a striking piece of art, it’s a symbol of how this engineering project has also been about creating places that bring people closer to the Thames.
“It was an honour to welcome Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal to mark this important moment.”
The Princess Royal was among more than 100 senior figures, many of whom played key roles in the project’s development over the past decade – including the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, and the new Environment Secretary, Emma Reynolds MP.
Attendees also included individuals from Tideway’s shareholders, the project’s contractors, government, regulators, and many others.
Tideway also welcomed members of the Bazalgette family, whose great-great-grandfather, Sir Joseph, engineered the sewage system London relies on today.
Many of Tideway’s public parks have already opened – in Chelsea, Nine Elms, Vauxhall and Putney – with Bazalgette Embankment due to open to the public in the coming weeks.
The Tideway project involved the construction of a deep, 25km-long tunnel beneath the river. It has been fully protecting the Thames since February, and has already intercepted more than 9 million tonnes of storm sewage that would have otherwise spilled into the Thames.
