Showing the public
An open day is being held this coming Sunday, 28th November when the public can experience a ‘behind the scenes' tour of repairs and restoration to the flight in West London.
£50 millions
This open day, we are told 'is part of a vital £50 millions makeover of dozens of historic locks, bridges and aqueducts which includes the replacement of over 100 handcrafted oak lock gates across the country'.
The Hanwell Flight open day will be between 11 am and 4 pm, when people are invited to come and meet British Waterways' project engineer and heritage advisor on the canal just north of Green Lane in Hanwell. Tours of the works at this scheduled ancient monument will take in the history of the site, the replacement of the 3.6 tonne lock gates and renovation to the side ponds.
Jewels in the crown
Antonia Zotali, British Waterways' Senior Engineering Project Manager related:
"The Hanwell Flight on the Grand Union Canal is one of the jewels in the crown of the London waterway network. This picturesque piece of working industrial-era infrastructure is over 200 years old so it's not surprising repair works like these are necessary.
"British Waterways takes advantage of the winter time when fewer boats are moving on the waterway to get projects like this done. This £500,000 project will take just over a month. The open day is a great opportunity for local people to find out more about what's happening on their waterway and how we're working to protect and maintain it."