Canada Dock Pedestrian Bridge London, English public realm architecture images, British design news

Canada Dock Pedestrian Bridge in London

1 November 2024

Design: Asif Khan

Location: Canada Dock, London

photo © Brendan Bell

Photos by Brendan Bell and Luke Hayes

Canada Dock Pedestrian Bridge, England

British Land and AustralianSuper, the joint venture partners behind the Canada Water masterplan, have today unveiled a new Asif Khan-designed public architectural landmark. The dramatic 170m-long boardwalk is inspired by the history of the Surrey Docks and its role at the heart of the timber trade during the 19th and 20th centuries. Townshend Landscape Architect designed a series of new steps down to the water’s edge with waterside seating alongside an educational dipping pond, transforming the area into a unique public space to bring people together to learn about the area’s heritage and ecology.

The striking red timber structure allows people to traverse the dock by stepping from timber to timber, following in the footsteps of the rafters who hopped between floating deal planks in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The boardwalk aims to enhance connectivity within the town center, while providing visitors with a new way to experience nature without disturbing the environment. It offers visitors the ability to connect with nature and walk between the different natural wildlife habitats. Gracefully weaving across the dock, the elevated structure floats on the water’s surface, offering unique views and bringing people down to experience nature up close.

photo © Luke Hayes

Through the creation of a series of islands and channels, Townshend, working in collaboration with the London Wildlife Trust, has created a new shoreline alongside a mosaic of different habitats that will maximize biodiversity. Three new wetland habitats have been created, alongside seven wetland islands, and over one kilometer of shallow edges. Reed beds, new flowering plants, and trees have been planted to attract dragonflies, butterflies, kingfishers, and frogs, while providing ideal nesting habitats for ducks, swans, and other birds.

Asif Khan said: “Crossing water can give us powerful sensations. This boardwalk immerses us in a few moments of color, of nature, and of beauty. I want to evoke the crossing of time too. I hope this gives someone a chance to take a breath and look at things in a new way. In today’s world, I think this is more important than ever.”

photo © Luke Hayes

British Land’s joint head of Canada Water, Emma Cariaga, adds, “Asif Khan is a world-class architectural talent and he has created a striking new centerpiece at Canada Dock that will be used every day by the local community. The design is a fantastic tribute to the area’s rich history and the boardwalk will connect people to both nature and the surrounding area. Canada Water is progressing at pace with the first phase of homes, workspace, and retail completing in the coming months. Canada Dock provides us with a unique opportunity to create an interesting place for people to meet and socialize, especially on the southern edge where cafes and restaurants will spill out onto the dock in the future.”

David Mooney, chief executive officer at the London Wildlife Trust, which will play an active role in the wetland’s management, said: “If every developer worked for nature’s recovery as much as this, the environment would be in a much better state.”

photo © Brendan Bell

Gary Alden, senior associate at Townshend Landscape Architects, stated, “At Canada Dock we had an incredible opportunity to reverse the ecological decline and create a space that improves the wildlife habitat and provides an environment where people and nature are better connected. By creating a mosaic of habitats, it will help to sustain a more biodiverse community of birds, invertebrates, and other wildlife.”

Over the next decade, the 53-acre Canada Water masterplan will deliver a new district for central London with around 1 million sq ft of new retail, leisure, and education amenities; up to 2 million sq ft of workspace for 20,000 workers; between 2,000 and 4,000 new homes; all alongside a 3.5-acre public park, a town square; the first new high street in London for 100 years; and a new leisure center.

photo © Brendan Bell

Artist’s statement by Asif Khan: Our Fathers Walked on Water:

“At Canada Water, I’ve been working with form, colour, and rhythm as abstractions of motion and memories from the history of this dock, its timber cargoes, and the forests and rivers of Canada from where the timber originated.

To walk on it is to connect across time to the movements and histories of people who worked with timber on this dock, and the places that timber came from. By walking across the bridge, we replay those moments in time.

Inspired by Canada Dock, which was established here in 1876, the project reflects the journeys of timber ‘rafters’ and ‘deal porters’ who spent every day walking and working on the surface of water.

The timber rafters built immense rafts of sawn red and white pine, or ‘deal,’ to navigate the timber down Canada’s treacherous and expansive rivers, living aboard as they floated hundreds of miles toward the coast. Steam ships would months later be unloaded here in London by highly skilled ‘deal porters’ who balanced the long planks on their shoulders, rhythmically running across narrow timber gangways that spanned from ship to shore over the water. Their precise movements and balance earned them the name ‘Blondins’ after Charles Blondin, who famously crossed the Niagara Falls in Canada by tightrope. The flow of water currents from river, the ocean waves, and the bowing form of planks in the hands of a deal porter describe a series of lines which give the bridge its curves and the undulating rhythm of timber elements traced over time along its length.

The bridge is a chronograph—a drawing that records time—capturing the motion of these individuals. It’s easily forgotten that forests on the other side of the ocean helped build London. Many layers of that story are embedded here. I want to invite reflection, wonder, and contemplation of the past as Londoners walk in the footsteps of their forebears across time and upon water.”

photo © Brendan Bell

Canada Dock Pedestrian Bridge, London – Building Information

Bridge Architect: Asif Khan – https://www.asif-khan.com/
– The boardwalk is 170m long and 4m wide – designed to accommodate wheelchair users and buggies
– Over 5km of timber weighing 90t have been used in building the boardwalk, its balustrades and handrails
– It comprises over 400 cantilevered timber fins
– Sustainably sourced timber from Brazil, adhering to FSC standards
– Within the dock wetland, 24,000 plants, shrubs, trees and perennials have been planted
– The deck height varies from 1.36m to 1.89m as it undulates across the dock (assuming 3990mm variable water height)
– The undulation of the boardwalk is inspired by the movement of workers across the water: bending and flexing deal as porters carried and walked across it

photo © Brendan Bell

Photography: Brendan Bell and Luke Hayes

Canada Dock Pedestrian Bridge, London image/information received 011124

Location: Royal Albert Way, London, England, UK

East London Dock Buildings

Royal Docks London Contest
Design: Heatherwick Studio

image from London Development Agency
Royal Docks London Design Competition – proposal by UK designers Heatherwick Studio