As part of its refurbishment project at Teddington Lock , the EA "successfully" dewatered the lock last month, enabling the it to inspect the structure and plan the necessary refurbishment works.

As part of the dewatering activity, the EA worked with ecologists FiveRivers, which carried out electro-fishing to safely remove any fish from the works area.

FiveRivers translocated an estimated 5,000 fish from the lock, across 11 fish species. To safely remove the fish, they were placed into oxygenated holding tanks and then released back into the River Thames at a suitable location.

The project has also completed further inspections and carried out a 3D scan of the dewatered lock chamber. 

These inspections and scans indicate that the lock chamber and walls require additional strengthening to bear loads during operation. 

However, the EA said: "This additional work is essential to avoid potential structural failures and risks to public safety and will unfortunately add time to the construction programme."

It added: "The project team is working hard to reduce this delay and is still aiming for the launch lock to be open towards the end of the boating season." 

Use of the Teddington Barge Lock will continue throughout construction to maintain navigation.

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Further updates on the work will be available on the EA's Thames Area Asset page.

If you have any questions about the works, email the project team on [email protected].