Today
The major feature of the dock today is London City Airport, whose single runway has been constructed the length of the south side of the dock, with the dock forming the northern boundary of the airport. The filled dry docks and ship repair works site lie under the runway. Aircraft movements are clearly visible across the dock from the largely accessible north quayside.
Transport links on the north side of the dock have been greatly improved with new roads and the Docklands Light Railway Beckton line running the length of the dock. From the dock's western end there is London Regatta Centre, with the Yi-Ban Chinese restaurant on top of the building. It is followed by a boathouse which is used by many rowers from different clubs. After this comes the Newham Dockside office development (Royals Business Park), which until July 2007 had stood vacant for three years since completion apart from being used for several film shoots. Newham Dockside is now owned by London Borough of Newham who will be relocating 2,500 of its staff to the building from April 2008. A large parcel of undeveloped land, used for overflow car parking from the Excel exhibition centre and interrupting pedestrian access to the dock edge follows, which surprisingly contains a short aircraft runway used for the 2007 and 2008 Red Bull Air Race in London. At the eastern end of the north quayside is the University of East London Docklands Campus, opened in 1999, and which will provide the United States Olympic Team with their training base during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Adjacent to the campus is the London Regatta Centre, an international class rowing centre from where Queen Mary, University of London Boat Club row.
Royal Albert Dock is the home of Typhoon DBC, Thames Dragons, Raging Dragons dragon boat racing clubs and Royal Docks Rowing Club, which is made up of mainly under-18s.
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Famous quotes containing the word today:
“Give me today, for once, the worst throw of your dice, destiny. Today I transmute everything into gold.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“The intelligence suffers today automatically in consequence of the attack on all authority, advantage, or privilege. These things are not done away with, it is needless to say, but numerous scapegoats are made of the less politically powerful, to satisfy the egalitarian rage awakened.”
—Wyndham Lewis (1882–1957)
“A hundred things are done today in the divine name of Youth, that if they showed their true colours would be seen by rights to belong rather to old age.”
—Wyndham Lewis (1882–1957)