Work is progressing on the nationally important Port of Tilbury flood defence gates project to install new dual function lock gates on the Thames Estuary in Tilbury.

The £34 million scheme is a project between the Environment Agency and the Port of Tilbury that will better protect thousands of homes and businesses in the local area from flooding.

The project will see 3 pairs of lock gates at the entrance lock to the port replaced. Each gate is approximately 15 metres tall and 19 metres wide; the equivalent approximately of 3 double decker buses high and the length of a cricket pitch wide.

The outer gates will be raised in height and tie into the adjacent flood walls so that they perform the dual function of a navigational and flood risk management asset.

Work started in January 2021 and is expected to last for 18 months with the new lock gates planned for installation in late 2021/early 2022.

Since work started in January 2021 the main highlights include:

• the locating and identification of multiple electric cables to be diverted around the works areas
• installation and testing of 2 x 36 metre long test piles to inform the foundation design for the new outer gate ram pits
• construction of the replacement control buildings foundation slabs
• a rolling programme of refurbishments of the sluices which control water levels between the gates

Fabrication of the new middle and inner gates is currently underway in Holland, and detailed design work is continuing on the new gate control systems.

Photo: site visit 2nd June 2021

Lto R: Helena Henao-Fernandez, Team 2100 Deputy Programme Director, Environment Agency; Paul Dale, Asset & Site Director, the Port of Tilbury; Alex Gentleman, Balfour Beatty; Mark Johnson, Area Flood and Coastal Risk Manager, Environment Agency; John Curtin, Executive Director for Local Operations, Environment Agency; Adrian Kilburn, Balfour Beatty, and David Housden, Head of Engineering and Procurement, the Port of Tilbury.

John Curtin, Environment Agency Executive Director for Local Operations, said:

“It has been great to have visited the construction site at Tilbury Port and to meet the team delivering this nationally important collaborative project. It is a complex project, involving construction activities around the busy port entrance - but I’ve been really impressed by the professional approach of the joint team with the ongoing support of Tilbury Port staff as we make important strides to better protect over 2,500 properties from flooding.

Helena Henao-Fernandez, Environment Agency Team 2100 Deputy Programme Director described the Tilbury dual function lock gates project as a perfect example of collaborative working between different organisations to tackle the effects of climate change.

Once completed the new dual function lock gates will ensure a high standard of flood protection for Tilbury along with the new navigation lock for operations at the port.

Planning for the project has been underway with the Environment Agency and the Port of Tilbury for several years.

With total scheme costs of around £34 million, the Port of Tilbury London Ltd (PoTLL) is providing a multi million pound contribution to the project and will take responsibility for operation and maintenance of the new dual function structure. Funding has also been secured from the Anglian (Eastern) Regional Flood and Coastal Committee.

The Environment Agency’s Thames Estuary Asset Management 2100 Programme (TEAM2100) will deliver the works in partnership with a number of contractors including Jacobs and Balfour Beatty.

Port of Tilbury and Thames Estuary flood defences

The Environment Agency Tilbury Barrier forms part of the Thames defences that reduce flood risk to the Purfleet, Grays and Tilbury flood cell along with The Port of Tilbury. The Port of Tilbury is the largest multi modal port in the south east. Sitting on the north bank of the Thames just 22 nautical miles east of central London, the port has an annual throughput of 16 million tonnes per annum, estimated to have a value around £8.7 billion.

The current Tilbury Barrier was installed in 1981 and has already passed its designed maximum number of closures and had a number of required modifications. The Port of Tilbury London Limited (PoTLL) in planning the replacement of 2 sets of lock gates was keen to partner with the Environment Agency and install an outer set of gates, which can act in both an impoundment function and flood defence function.

The site area falls within the Thames Estuary 2100 strategy, which was approved by the Environment Agency Board in 2010 and by Defra and HM Treasury in 2012. The strategy sets out recommendations for managing tidal flood risk across the estuary until the end of the century and beyond. In January 1953, over 2,500 properties flooded in Tilbury in a tidal surge that claimed 307 lives in England.

The Thames Estuary Asset Management 2100 (TEAM2100) programme started in 2014 and is being jointly delivered by the Environment Agency, Jacobs and Balfour Beatty, along with other suppliers.

It is the UK’s largest single programme of flood risk management work, valued at over £300 million in total, and is one of the Government’s top 40 major infrastructure projects.