The London Docks

THE ARUP JOURNAL SEPTEMBER 1977 Vol. 12 No. 3 September 1977 Contents Published by Ove Arup Partnership THEARUP 13 Fitzroy Street, London, W1 P 6BQ Editor: Peter Haggett Art Editor: Desmond Wyeth FSIAD JOURNAL Editorial Assistant: David Brown The London Docks. 2 by I. Mudd 'The Times' 10 New Printing House Square, by M. Jenkins and K. Smith Competition for Township 16 at Sulaibikhat, Kuwait, by S. Jensen Management type contracts: 21 an introduction, by R. Payne Front cover: Illustration by Gustave Dore of London Docks, circa 1870 Back cover: The 'Walter Press,' employed for printing The Times-a contemporary print of 1872 Cover illustrations reproduced by courtesy of Mary Evans Picture Library Geology and soil conditions don Docks, was still low lying in part The London Docks A good deal of geological data was available marshy ground, covered with drainage for the area of Wapping, from basic informa ditches. Along the river, small docks projected Ian Mudd tion extracted from geological survey maps, into Wapping, providing some unloading Introduct ion pictorial records on Port of London Authority facilities in addition to the river frontage. On maps of 1746, the names of three are signifi The London Docks are situated in Wapping drawings and modern boreholes undertaken cant in that they have remained ever since, on the north bank of the Thames some 800 m in and around the area. as Hermitage, Wapping and Shadwell, and east of the Tower of London. This complex Alluvial deposits from years of flooding, suc were situated at the three main entrances of of dock basins, inter-connecting locks, quays cessive reclamation and dock building have London Docks, bearing the same name. and warehouses, nearly 42 ha in extent, increased the fill, in places, to nearly 10 m straddles the Wapping peninsula and adjoins thick. Below this can be found gravel, The history of dockland as we know it today St. Katharine's Dock on the western boundary London Clay, Woolwich and Reading Beds began at the end of this, the 18th century, also (Fig. 1 ). Construction of the docks began in and chalk. a time of vast engineering expansion to cope with the new commercial industries of 1801 after the granting of a royal charter. When work commenced, the builders founded Britain started by the Industrial Revolution. Trading opened in 1805 and finally closed in the dock walls in the flood plain gravel strata, With the influx of more and more raw materials 1969. During the 168 years of its existence at a level below the standing water table. As to increase revenue and to prevent large scale many notable engineers, doyens of their time, construction spread eastwards, the same flood pilferage, the first of the modern floating participated in its construction and modifica plain gravel was used as a foundation until docks was constructed on the Thames. This, tion. Its warehouses and vaults stored tobacco, work commenced on the Shadwell new basin. the West India Docks, was situated in the brandy, tea, sugar, coffee and a host of other This, the last of the major docks to be built, Isle of Dogs, the docks being designed by trade goods. was situated at a point where the London William Jessop. At the same time (1799) a Together with architects, Shepheard, Epstein Clay is higher and the north wall of this dock company was formed by London merchants and Hunter and quantity surveyors, Burrell, was founded partly in gravel and partly in for the purpose of constructing docks as near Hayward and Budd, our role is to resurrect the clay which to some extent accounts for its to the Exchange as practica ble and for this decaying area of Wapping and the derelict magnitude and method of design. scheme, John Rennie the elder, was appointed London Docks (Fig. 2). At the time of dock construction, the standing Ours was not an open brief, neither were we water level was far higher than it is today and the firstto undertake redevelopment proposals all timber piles on which the dock walls, vaults in the area. Since 1968 many schemes had and boundary walls were constructed, were been put forward and rejected from numerous below this water table. Those still underwater architects and engineers, including ourselves, owe their preservation to this fact. and the controversial Travers Morgan dock Now, underdrainage of the London Clay and land study. Although we could draw on pre urbanization of the area has resulted in a vious experience, our proposals had to con gradual lowering of the water table so that form, in general terms at least, to The Local today the tops of most timber piles are above Plan for Wapping' published by the London the water table and, as a result, are badly Borough of Tower Hamlets, and The General decayed. It is fortuitous that the clay stratum Dockland Strategy· published by the Dock is nearer the surface in the northern part of the lands Joint Committee. It was also necessary site, for it holds the ground water at a higher to heed the requirements of statutory authori local level which ensures that piled foundations ties, local action groups and developers· pro for the original warehouses are still below posals for the north western part of the site. water level and in a good state of repair. In othe( words it became necessa ry to please all of the people all of the time. History We recognized that our proposals should By the middle of the 18th century, a wide provide a desirable environment at an econo band of Wapping abutting the Thames was mic cost and decided this would best be completely built up. From this maze of alley achieved by accepting and utilizing the exist ways and courtyards. commercial and indus ing major constraints. Our philosophy was to trial activity was carried out, ca using acute retain the more important aspects of dockland problems of congestion for docks' unloading heritage (Fig. 3), to re-use or adapt existing and storage facilities. Behi nd this band of dock walls, locks and structures and to intensive activity, the centre of Wapping John Rennie FRS 2 minimize demolition costs. peninsula, destined to become the Lon- involvement. However, it may not prove to be without modification are often unsuitable for The client relies only on his common law a worthwhile method if the job simply complex projects which have to be designed rights if the management contractor fails to involves straightforward mechanical and and built in a short space of time, or with exercise all proper care and skill in the electrical supply and erection for a single or untraditional constraints. Standard forms are performance of his duties. In other words he easily identifiable group or groups of process often adapted and used in conjunction with is relied upon to act in a quasi-professional or utility services. approximate bills, negotiated rates, two-stage capacity. Again it is unlikely that he would be It has already been mentioned that the second tendering techniques and so on in their called upon to carry out any of the work, category of application to which management various forms. The most critical problem other than to step in when sub-contractors type contracts may be applied is to solve the often is how to place orders, obtain infor default. problem imposed by a variety of constraints mation from vendors and start on site before Between the hard and soft contracts there is which may be imposed either deliberately or the design for the whole project is completed obviously a vast range of contract types by commercial or administrative pressures on and at the same time keep the options open which places a variety of obligations on the the design and construction team. These are for as long as possible so that alternatives management contractor, including the right summarized below. can be properly considered. The difficulty in to build part of the project if necessary, and (a) Short design and/or construction period solving this problem increases as projects complementary conditions on the members This is a situation which is becoming become more complex and, with the demand of the design team. The basic principles can increasingly common with changing money for faster construction programmes the need be adapted as the job demands which of values and the consequent need for projects for alternative contract arrangements be course means that each job must be consid to be either revenue-earning or replacing comes greater. ered on its own merits. Unless one is dealing obsolete processes at an early date. It is A hierarchy of inter-related contracts must with serial contracts, it is unlikely that aggravated by the increasing size and therefore be developed to deal with the previous or standard agreements can be complexity of buildings and plant installations, contractual issues involved in the administra adapted to suit other circumstances and each and often the time period, in the case of tion of management-type contracts, together project must be considered afresh. A chemical installations, is so short as to with the management contractor's respon significant feature of this is the consideration produce a crash cost situation. Many buildings sibilities. A common form of such contracts is of the services which the management Key: and industrial works with short design and shown below. contractor is required to provide. 1 Hermitage Basin construction periods can be designed and (a) Between employer and Outline of management 2 Western Dock built either within the framework of traditional management contractor contractor services 3 Wapping Basin systems or on a 'package deal' basis quite This contract defines the responsibilities and The following are brief details of the sort of 4 Tobacco Dock satisfactorily.

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