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Greenwich Foot Tunnel articles

Articles on Greenwich.co.uk related to the historic Greenwich Foot Tunnel - a pedestrian crossing under the river Thames between Greenwich and Island Gardens on the Isle of Dogs.

Tory leader’s “concerns” over District Auditor’s foot tunnel omission

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THE LEADER of Greenwich Conservatives has questioned why the District Auditor didn’t raise the handling of the bungled foot tunnel refurbishments in her report on the council’s performance.

The District Auditor’s Annual Audit Letter, a summary of her 2011/2012 audit, was published at last night’s full meeting of the council.

“I concluded that you have made proper arrangements to secure economy, efficiency and effectiveness in your use of resources,” wrote the District Auditor in the letter.

But the council itself admitted last month that its £11.5million refurbishment of Greenwich and Woolwich foot tunnels had gone wrong over the last two years and announced it would commission in an independent review of its procedures.

Tory leader Spencer Drury told councillors that the “serious mismanagement” of the project should have been mentioned by the District Auditor.

“Surely, the District Auditor should be mentioning that sort of concern in a letter which is supposed to reflect the procedures and financial performance of the borough.

“The District Auditor is the person I look to to provide us with some assurance about what’s going on. I don’t think this letter reflects the serious concerns which we should have been aware of and we should expect the District Auditor to make us aware of.”

Councillor Peter Brooks, deputy leader of the Council, said the report represented another positive year for the council.

“It’s pleasing to note the council continues to demonstrate strong financial resilience despite government cuts and the economic downturn,” he said.

Also from last night’s council meeting

  • Cllr John Fahy said council officers were working through the draft report by the NHS Trust Special Administrator (TSA) to come up with a response. He said the report was “probably better than we expected…  there are obviously some positives and some serious negatives particularly in regards to waiting times.”
  • Cllr Fahy also revealed that the Special Administrator had been invited to a Scrutiny Panel meeting, open to the public, on November 15th and said the council wanted the TSA to hold more public meetings across the borough.
  • Severndroog Castle restoration expected to be completed by Autumn 2013, said Councillor Denise Hyland
  • Cllr Hyland also stated that she expected Circus Field to be reinstated by Spring 2013.
  • Councillor Maureen O’Mara admitted “errors” in the way the Run to the Beat event was handled.
  • The effectiveness of barriers erected in the Greenwich Foot Tunnel will shortly be reviewed, said Cllr Hyland.

Council admits foot tunnel upgrades in trouble

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Greenwich Foot Tunnel

  • Greenwich Council admits foot tunnel upgrades have gone wrong, threatens legal action against contractors
  • No work currently taking place on stalled project
  • Local Conservatives say council “simply does not know what it is doing”

GREENWICH Council will this week try and work out a way ahead to rescue the stalled refurbishment of Greenwich and Woolwich foot tunnels.

Over two years since the £11.5 million upgrade commenced, the tunnels sit unfinished with no work currently taking place, providing “an unacceptable and deteriorating environment,” says a report by council officers which will be considered by the cabinet on Wednesday evening.

The new plan,  expected to be agreed by the Cabinet,  will see a new contractor brought in to finish the project and the setting up of an independent review in to how the council runs big projects. The council also plans to appoint legal experts to help recover some of the costs from the bungled project.

What went wrong

Work started on an extensive refurbishment of the century-old river crossings in March 2010 after a grant to pay for the works was issued by central government. The plan attracted controversy from the beginning with information short on how  tunnel users would be affected while works took place.

Dean & Dyball Civil Engineering (DDCE) were appointed as lead contractor with Messrs Sweett as Project Managers and Hyder Consulting as Lead Designer.

Sixteen months after work started, with cost estimates exceeded and schedules not met, the council says it engaged in “more intense scrutiny of the project” and agreed a new plan with DDCE to at least get the lifts working by Christmas 2011 but even this revised target wasn’t met.

By December 2011, the council finally took full control of the project and terminated the agreements with the contractors.

The lifts in Greenwich Foot Tunnel were at long last operational by April 2012, but have been hit by frequent breakdowns and there is much work to be done, with stairwells at both side still restricted in width because of temporary hoardings erected.

Woolwich Foot Tunnel has no working lifts.

Reaction

In a statement issued at the weekend, Greenwich Council apologised for the “over budget” and incomplete refurbishments.

“The Royal Borough of Greenwich shares the frustration of tunnel users and the general public over the time taken to complete this project and apologises for the ongoing delays to this work,” says the statement.

It adds: “Legal advice is being sought from a firm of specialist construction lawyers to determine any case for recovering the additional costs from the contractors.”

The leader of the Greenwich Conservatives, Cllr Spencer Drury,  told Greenwich.co.uk that the cabinet should be “ashamed.”

“This is a shocking tale of mismanagement which shows that this Council simply does not know what it is doing.  In the report it suggests that the Council has a good record of managing projects, but one of their quoted examples the Eltham Centre went up in flames due to faulty wiring shortly after its completion.”

“It is simply wrong that Council Tax payers are being asked to foot the bill for this chaos.”

“At a time of austerity to be stumping up more than £11m to replace a couple lifts and slap a bit of paint on because the Labour Council can’t manage their way out of a paper bag is outrageous and Labour Cabinet members should be ashamed of themselves.”

Click here to read the report by council officers that will be considered by the cabinet on Wednesday evening.

See also: 853 – The unanswered questions on Greenwich and Woolwich foot tunnels


The stairs in Greenwich Foot Tunnel

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Emergency services called to “unusual smell” in Greenwich Foot Tunnel

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Photo: Benb111

EMERGENCY services were called to an incident at Greenwich Foot Tunnel tonight.

Fire engines, ambulances and police response vehicles were in Cutty Sark Gardens as an “unusual smell” was reported in the tunnel.

Six fire engines were joined by a Scientific Support Unit outside the tunnel which is over a hundred years old and currently undergoing an extensive refurbishment.

Seven people were treated at the scene, reported the BBC, but none required hospital treatment.

A spokesperson for the London Fire Brigade confirmed they were called out at 19.09 to investigate an incident but it was later declared to be a “false alarm” by the Met’s Borough Commander.


Photo: Benb111

Daily Photo: 01/04/2012 – Greenwich Foot Tunnel lifts

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Contractors in the foot tunnel were working away yesterday to try and make good on a promise at February’s full council meeting that the lifts would be ready by the end of March. I went through the tunnel mid afternoon and they weren’t operational but Chris Henniker was lucky enough to get a good look at them yesterday and was told they would be ready by 7am on Monday.


(c) Chris Henniker


(c) Chris Henniker


(c) Chris Henniker

Greenwich Foot Tunnel closed on Christmas Day

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Greenwich Foot Tunnel will close on Christmas Eve and not reopen until Boxing Day, it has been revealed.

With the stairs at both ends of the tunnel closed for refurbishment, a decision has been taken not to provide staff to operate the lift on Christmas Day.

Southeastern trains, the DLR, London Underground and London Buses will also not be running on Christmas Day.

The £11.5m refurbishment of both Greenwich and Woolwich foot tunnels started in April of this year. The Woolwich Foot Tunnel is expected to remain completely closed until March 2011.

Breakdowns and disruption “regretted”

At last night’s full council meeting, Cllr Denise Hyland, Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Enterprise and Skills, expressed her regret at recent “breakdowns and consequent disruption” in the foot tunnel.

In a written answer to a member of the public, she revealed there had been six unplanned closures of the tunnel, totalling 9hr50, during November due to the lift breaking down.

She added that the council has managed to reduce the lift contractor’s call out time to 1 hour and that the council’s Twitter service notifying the public of unplanned tunnel closures is “being revised to include references to the alternate crossings.”

Unplanned foot tunnel closures in November

3 Nov     17.20 – 20.00
5 Nov     16.30 – 17.00
17 Nov   16.00 – 16.45
24 Nov   17.45 – 19.00
27 Nov   13.55 – 16.15
28 Nov   13.55 – 16.15

“Supermodern Aesthetic” For All-New Foot Tunnels – And No More Staff in the Lifts

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It’s tunnel week in Greenwich. Many people are just finding out about Transport for London’s plans to close the Blackwall Tunnel to all southbound traffic between 9pm and 5am, five days a week, for the next three years.

We are already half-way through the last uninterrupted week there’ll be until 2013. The closures start this coming Monday and the tunnel will henceforward be closed southbound after 9pm every night except Friday and Saturday.

Anger is whipping round the web. A meeting has been called on February 12 (see this Facebook site) to discuss some form of protest. As someone on the site says, “the bloke in Shawshank Redemption didn’t take that long to sort his tunnel.”

Does it really take 6,240 hours to fit “new safety, lighting and communications systems”? Surely not. Couldn’t they keep both directions open by having a contraflow in the remaining bore, without HGVs if they’re worried about a collision? Of course they could, but they won’t.

Boris Johnson told me a couple of weeks ago that his TfL officers simply refused point-blank to implement his election manifesto commitment to restore the old tidal flow arrangement in the tunnel during rush hours. They claimed that it was not safe. The contraflow during closure has no doubt been scuppered on the same pretext, even though that too was the preferred solution during tunnel works for many years.

Safety seems unlikely to be TfL’s main motivation, since it was perfectly happy to allow contraflows for many years and since, as far as I know, no serious accident ever occurred. Nor was the ending of the arrangement the result of any considered or empirically studied process – it was just stopped one day, and that was that. The main reason is that it is another part of “Transport for Livingstone’s” historic and continuing jihad against the motorist.

You should be going by Tube instead, scum! No, hold on – the Jubilee Line’s closed quite a lot of the time too, isn’t it? Oh well, you’d better cycle then, through the foot tunnel. Not a chance, buster. That, too, will be closed at night (and possibly during the day) for months this year and next as Greenwich Council carries out yet another tiresome, unnecessary and frankly offensive piece of Olympic-related window-dressing.

We still don’t have a clear timetable for the closures, although we’ve been demanding one for months. But, in the second tunnel-related story of the week, the plans for the refurb have been published – so we do have an idea of what the all-singing, all-dancing, refurbished tunnels are going to look like.

“Our approach to the new installations has been bold,” say the designers, “meeting our clients’ challenge to bring the tunnels into the 21st century.” The design, they say, “aims at a ‘supermodern’ aesthetic… a contemporary aesthetic that acts as a counterpart to the old” and will make “use of the tunnels an event in itself.” Oh, God.

One of the nicest things, I think, about the foot tunnels is that they are not supermodern or contemporary – but a little breath of Edwardian Britain, from the unflashy white tiling to the wood-panelled lifts.

The lift panelling will be kept, it turns out, but will be placed behind glass screens on stainless steel fixings, with a stainless steel railing round the car at waist height and “LED feature lighting to highlight the panelling.” All the hallmarks, in other words, of the 538 other clueless, over-buffed heritage sterilifications there have been in London over the last ten years.

The glass panels in the domes on at either end will be stripped out and replaced with… almost identical glass panels, only these ones (wait for it), these ones will be aligned “in clearer association with the meridian, with each segment representing 30 minutes of the time dial.”

The claimed objectives of the refurb include “improved safety” and a “more welcoming environment.” This will no doubt be why those dreary heritage features so totally irrelevant to safety and welcoming, the lift attendants, are to be scrapped. As the document admits, “the lift cars will no longer be manned.”

At tunnel level, the tiling stays, but there is a “central services spine… designed to emanate a serene glow.” The lighting will “allow colour and animation to be subtly manipulated to create different moods at different times of the day,” will “wash a feature colour on the walls,” and will provide “the infrastructure for contemporary art installations so that the tunnels can contribute to cultural life in the locality.” The brochure is full of lower-case, marketing-man’s promises about “invitation, exploration and exhilaration.”

Let us pause briefly here, to collect our thoughts and grind our teeth. Since this scheme was announced, life in Britain has changed. The country faces a public spending deficit of £175 billion; a deficit that will require painful cuts to things we actually value. Does anyone really think that, in this new Britain, spending £11.5 million to damage the aesthetic of the tunnels, get rid of the staff and install “mood lighting” should be a priority?

The tunnel is not a “cultural installation,” but a transport one, a job (subject to simple mechanical repairs of the lifts) that it does pretty well at the moment. As for my “mood,” it would be much improved if basic infrastructure was just allowed to carry on doing its job. I do not want my use of the tunnels to be an “an event in itself,” particularly since the most regular event over the next two years will be closure. You want to see “exhilaration?” Scrap this idiotic scheme, and all the other woeful 2012 nonsense. Stop meddling, and just leave us alone.

Greenwich Council Meeting 16/12/09: Roadworks, Foot Tunnel, John Roan School & Charlton Lido

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Greenwich Council has said it wants to join a scheme which will enable it to co-ordinate roadworks in the borough, after a year which has seen serious disruption on Greenwich roads.

Works by Southern Gas Networks and Thames Water have caused traffic to grind to a halt through Greenwich town centre, while Charlton and Blackheath have also been seriously affected by a water main replacement programme.

The issue was highlighted by greenwich.co.uk’s Andrew Gilligan in November after it emerged the council had not joined a Transport for London scheme, under which utilities have to get permits from local authorities before they dig up roads.

Deputy leader Peter Brooks told last night’s Greenwich Council meeting he wanted the borough to join the programme.

In a written answer to Liberal Democrat councillor Brian Woodcraft, who asked why Greenwich was not part of the scheme, he said: “I am very keen for Greenwich to participate in this scheme, and I hope the trial will be expanded for us to be able to do so very soon.”

However, he not answer why the council had not joined the scheme, and Cllr Woodcraft did not press him on the issue.

Lewisham and Bromley councils are involved in the TfL programme, which is due to come into force next year.

Greenwich Foot Tunnel

A petition signed by 1,000 users of Greenwich foot tunnel demanding that closures be kept to a minimum when it is refurbished was presented to the council by Liberal Democrat member Paul Webbewood.

The river crossing, together with its sister tunnel at Woolwich, is due to be refurbished by 2012, with regular users fearing lengthy closures.

Council leader Chris Roberts told the meeting a contractor had been appointed to carry out the works.

“We’re discussing what work needs to be done and what the hours will be,” he said.

“Then we can advise residents and businesses on arrangements for both tunnels.”

John Roan School

Greenwich Council confirmed it would respect John Roan School governors’ decision not to move to a new site on Greenwich Peninsula.

Blackheath Westcombe Conservative councillor Alex Wilson asked if a timetable had been set out for works to improve John Roan’s existing sites on Maze Hill and Westcombe Park Road.

But children’s services cabinet member Jackie Smith said the proposals were still in the “developmental stage”.

“It is too early to be definitive about completion dates, but will will want to ensure that the project is progressed as quickly as practicable.”

Charlton Lido

Conservative leader Spencer Drury criticised the council for not giving an update on works at Charlton Lido, which is being converted into a diving centre.

Earlier this year his party colleague, Kidbrooke with Hornfair councillor Graeme Coombes, presented a 222-strong petitioning demanding the reopening of the lido for the summer season.

It had been closed in anticipation of leasing the lido out to private firm Open Waters Investments, which is due to re-open the pool by summer 2012.

But the lease was not signed until 14 August, leaving the lido empty for the summer.

Responding to the petition, the council said it would have taken leisure operator GLL two weeks to mobilise its staff, and that opening hours at another centre would have to be cut to staff Charlton Lido.

Cllr Drury called the reply “disappointing”. “I hoped there would have been an update on whether work has started,” he told the meeting.

But Olympics and culture cabinet member John Fahy said he saw no reason to doubt that the revamped lido would open on time.

New Trees in Greenwich

If you think your street would benefit from having some new trees, then Greenwich Council wants to hear from you.

The council is spending £4.8m on planting 2,012 trees in the borough to mark the Olympics, with planting due to take place next winter.

In response to a public question from the Greenwich Environment Forum’s Anna Townend, Olympics and culture cabinet member John Fahy told the meeting the council was looking for places to put the trees in.

“We’ve been consulting with residents for a number of weeks, particularly at our Great Get-Together events,” he said.

Cllr Fahy added that he did not think that a new woodland would be created with the trees.