At the end of 1999 Bennett Associates began work on the Falkirk Wheel, the centrepiece of the largest canal restoration ever. Bennetts has been commissioned to produce the detailed design of the operating mechanisms of the complex wheel structure and mechanical interfaces. The Wheel will be the first rotating boatlift in the world and will lift boats 25 metres between the Forth & Clyde and the Union Canal. This is the biggest engineering project to be undertaken by British Waterways in Scotland and will cost £78 million.
Work is now progressing quickly and to schedule, with the 100 metres long aqueduct to the Falkirk Wheel also under construction. Pieces of the wheel and gondolas will soon be travelling by road from Butterley Engineering works in Ripley to Falkirk where they will be assembled and lifted into place by cranes.
The next stage will be installing the mechanical and electrical fittings and then testing ready for commissioning. The Falkirk Wheel is expected to be completed by the end of 2001 and formally opened in the spring of 2002.
Falkirk Wheel Boatlift
Falkirk Wheel Boatlift under construction
