British waterway press release,updates, news,current events

Waterways Press Update – October 2007

CONTENT

1. Waterscape.com relaunched

2. New Waterways Minister visits Loughborough

3. Mooring Tenders website launched on Waterscape.com

4. Waterways Excellence Award

5. BW Status Review

6. Licence Evasion Update

7. Falkirk Wheel Photo Competition

8. Hilary Benn to reveal bridge name at Clarence Dock in Leeds

9. Photos available with captions

1. Waterscape.com relaunched

Waterscape.com, British Waterways’ leisure website, has been re-launched with a fresh look and improved functionality. The improvements coincide with the Yours to enjoy marketing campaign, announced last month, and will make it easier for people to find out how they can use their local canal and river as part of their everyday lives.

The new site is easier to navigate and includes a quick search to help people find activities, listings and services in their local area but popular features from the old site, like the interactive map, have been retained.

Marketing services manager Nicky Ross explains: “People should see great improvements to the site from the basics, such as a larger text size, to the more complex like finding specific information via postcodes. The site now has three quarters of a million pages containing lots of useful information that we hope will encourage more people to use our canals and rivers.”

2. New Waterways Minister visits Loughborough

New waterways minister Jonathan Shaw attended the opening of the £13m regeneration of Loughborough Canal Basin on Tuesday 2nd October. The minister was accompanied by British Waterways chairman Tony Hales who then took him on a cruise up the Loughborough arm of the Grand Union.

The development, which was started in Spring 2006, has seen the creation of a vibrant focal point for the town combining expanded water space with a reshaped canal basin to enable better boat access, public plaza, student accommodation, improved boater facilities, bar and restaurant units and space for the future development of 35 residential apartments.

The opening was marked by the unveiling of three limestone sculptures created for the site by East Midlands artist Graeme Mitcheson, based on the ideas from local people, boaters and nearby school children.

Commenting on the site British Waterways’ East Midlands General Manager, Caroline Killeavy said; “For many years access to enjoy the waterside in Loughborough was largely closed off but from our experience of waterside regeneration we knew the positive impact that developments of this type of development have, and felt very confident of the benefits that this development would bring to Loughborough. This site is in the heart of the town centre but now provides an everyday escape from the hustle and bustle of our daily lives.”

3. Mooring Tenders website to be launched on Waterscape.com

The newly revamped Waterscape.com website will host British Waterways’ mooring tenders site which, during the week commencing 22 October, will move from being a registration of interest and explanatory site to a fully-fledged tendering site.

Local moorings staff have received training on the new system and are currently putting finishing touches to the descriptions of some 40 mooring sites which will be the first to be advertised for tender.

Over 3100 people have registered their interest, either online or by post, on online mooring tenders site.

“We will send details of matching vacancies to people who have registered their mooring preferences by post. And we will email all those who have registered their email address online directing them to the new website where they can view – and if they wish to, submit a tender for - any mooring vacancy that matches their specific mooring requirements,” says Sally Ash, Head of Boating Development at British Waterways.

4. Waterways Excellence Awards - First waterways excellence award goes to Yorkshire

The project in Yorkshire Waterways to raise the height of Whitley Lock on the Aire & Calder Navigation and thus compensate for coal mining subsidence displayed excellence in almost every dimension: external funding, project management, customer liaison, use of in-house skills, contract management and sustainability. So said British Waterways chief executive Robin Evans when he declared Yorkshire the winners of the first national Waterways Excellence Award.

The new award was introduced to take account of new ways of working following the move to functional rather than location based teams. At the same time the scope was broadened to include all British Waterways people.

Each waterway and central submitted their first round winners to be judged by Robin Evans during the summer. He said: “I have travelled around the network and met with all the winners and runners up. I’ve been briefed on the projects and had an opportunity to discuss what they achieved.”

He added: “I have been hugely impressed by the talent, dedication, ingenuity and application of our people. In every case colleagues have demonstrated their willingness to go the extra mile in order to get the very best solution and benefit for BW and our customers. I have seen excellence from individuals and from teams. I have seen projects that benefit a small number of customers to whole communities, some costing only a few pounds, others more than a million. I was particularly pleased that we had received so many entries and that they spanned the whole range of our activities. It was a very, very difficult task to pick an overall winner.”

At the presentation, Yorkshire Waterways customer operations manager David Crane said: “This was a huge effort by everyone – a broad team of experts all played their part in the project – and to win the Waterways Excellence Aware in its first year is a fantastic achievement.”

These stoppage works were a major engineering project that addressed the impact of mining subsidence. Whitley Lock on the Aire & Calder Navigation forms an essential part of one of the main commercial waterways in the UK. British Waterways adopted the role of principal contractor to develop and manage the works and while sub-contractors were used to deliver the main civil engineering aspects, the specialist lock gate and M&E skills were found internally, and 25 bank staff were employed full time on site.

By using 24 hour working on some aspects of the project, the works were finished within the planned 24 days, everyone working well together and showing a really positive approach. In all nearly £1m of work was done.

During the stoppage, the commercial operators on the navigation were kept up to speed with progress and a site visit was arranged so that they could see the works in progress. The feedback was very positive and everyone gained a better appreciation of each other’s business needs.

5. British Waterways Status Review

British Waterways has published the terms of reference for its Status Review first announced in August when a joint team of KPMG and Merrill Lynch were revealed as preferred advisors.

The purpose of the Review is to identify whether a different institutional structure for British Waterways could more effectively secure a sustainable long-term future for its inland waterways as valued national assets in each of the nations in which it operates; and to make recommendations supported by comparative analysis and rationale.

It is a requirement that any option must maintain the waterway assets of British

Waterways in long term public ownership in a manner that ensures their long term financial

security.

For further information see: http://www.britishwaterways.co.uk/images/British_Waterways_Status_Review_Terms_Of_Reference.pdf

6. Licence evasion update
Almost £104,000 of licence fee income was recovered during the quarter July to September 2007 while, at the end of the quarter, there was resolution following enforcement action (including Section 8 proceedings) on 344 unlicensed boats.

7. Falkirk Wheel - Scotland's favourite built heritage

As part of its centenary celebrations, The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) has launched a public vote to find Scotland’s favourite piece of built heritage.

One hundred photographs, including one of The Wheel, have been selected for the RCAHMS Treasured Places: Scotland’s Favourite Archive Images project.

Readers can help The Falkirk Wheel secure its place at the top of the list by visiting: http://www.treasuredplaces.org.uk/gallery/detail.php?id=33 and placing a vote.

Carole Keltie, manager, The Falkirk Wheel, said: "It is an honour to be chosen as one of the 100 most treasured images of Scotland. Over a million people have visited The Wheel since it opened in 2002 and we would be delighted if every one of them voted – which would surely see us crowned Scotland’s most Treasured Place."

8. Hilary Benn to reveal bridge name at Clarence Dock in Leeds

Hilary Benn, MP for Leeds Central and Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has agreed to congratulate the winner and unveil a plaque with the winning name on the bridge’s official opening on Friday, 2 November at 10am.

9. Photos

Concrete batching plant

Please call David Young on 01923 201348 if you would like one or more of the following photos in higher resolution:

The concrete batching plant ‘Korsar’ came into London’s Docklands in July and is being fitted out alongside the Cable and Wireless Earth satellite station site on Wood Wharf. When completed, she will will provide concrete to numerous developments around Docklands and surrounding areas. Raw materials will be delivered to the vessel by barge, through the West India lock entrance from the Thames and the finished product will be delivered to sites by truck. It is expected that production will start around the end of 2007 and that approximately 150,000 tonnes of raw materials will be delivered by water each year, helping British Waterways to fulfil commitments on freight by water.

Sunseeker Yacht

Please call David Young on 01923 201348 if you would like one or more of the following photos in higher resolution:

Sunseeker, the British builder of luxury leisure craft, has secured a short term mooring from British Waterways to market their craft in the docks. Moored on the recently completed South Quay, there has been a high level of interest in the vessel from the financial community on Canary Wharf seeking to dispose of some of their hard earned bonuses. The company has carried out the exercise as a trial which, if successful, could see them back in Docklands again. The vessel in the photograph is valued at £3 million.

Waterway Excellence Awards

Please call David Young on 01923 201348 if you would like one or more of the following photos in higher resolution:

Pictured, left to right, Robin Evans with Steve Garcia’vazquez, Eric Walker, Kevin Tyson, Tony Allerton, John Cottam and Simon Dickinson