The Dock Today
The Royal Victoria Dock has experienced major redevelopment under the London Docklands Development Corporation. The dock itself still exists and is accessible to ships, although its western entrance has been filled in and it is now used chiefly for watersports. Its transport links have been greatly improved with new roads and Docklands Light Railway lines running along both its north and south side.
Most of the original warehouses have been demolished but the historic 19th century K-S and W Warehouses - both listed buildings - have survived.
The dock is dominated by the ExCeL Exhibition Centre, constructed on the north quayside and opened in November 2000, and by the adjacent high level Royal Victoria Dock Bridge. The waterside location of ExCel is used to its advantage when it hosts the annual London Boat Show, with visiting vessels moored alongside the exhibition centre.
On the south side of the Dock is Britannia Village. The award winning development, which included the high level footbridge, was commissioned by LDDC and carried out by Wimpey Homes, the Peabody Trust and the East Thames Housing Group between 1994 and 2000. Phase II of the project was left to the LDDC’s successors. This was a development around the Pontoon Dock to include a village centre with mixed development of business, retail and leisure facilities and up to 700 new homes.
Now the responsibility of the London Development Agency, this development is now known as Silvertown Quays and includes proposals to refurbish the remaining Millennium Mills along the waterfront for new uses and an aquarium. Britannia Village has its own Community Foundation.
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Famous quotes containing the words dock and/or today:
“You turn
To speak to someone beside the dock and the lighthouse
Shines like garnets. It has become a stricture.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“I think with the Romans, that the general of today should be a soldier tomorrow if necessary.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)