Overview

Updated 4 April 2025

Background

Swan Draw Dock is on the northern shore of the River Thames in Hammersmith and Fulham, around 100 metres east of Putney Bridge. The draw dock forms part of the River Thames and protects the local community from flooding and needs repair to ensure the continued protection of the Fulham community.

The eastern and northern walls of the draw dock are now at the end of their serviceable life and need to be repaired.

The work is part of the Thames Estuary 2100 Programme looking to ensure tidal walls, embankments and barriers along the Thames Estuary continue to protect 1.4 million people and £321 billion of property from tidal flooding. Read more about why we need these tidal defences here.

The flood defence works will continue until March 2027 and include:

• Removal and replacement of the northern wall
• Remediation and strengthening of the eastern wall
• Brickwork repairs

Above: The location of Swan Draw Dock

Disruption during the two-year construction programme will be minimised through collaborative working with local residents and businesses.

Willow Bank is closed during the works, please follow the signed footpath diversion. The footbridge over the dock has also been closed for safety reasons.

Keeping the community updated

To help keep the community up to date we are:

• maintaining an online information page including a rolling six-month programme and detailed three-month look ahead (see below)
• monitoring a dedicated project email address
• sharing regular newsletters
• providing a dedicated project community engagement lead who is available to answer questions and resolve issues. Howard will be holding drop-ins at the Premier Inn on Wednesdays from 2pm to 4pm

For questions or to be included in the project mailing list, please email SwanDrawDock@Environment-Agency.gov.uk.

Rolling six-month programme

We will update the below high-level programme periodically to show what to expect in the coming months. Please see the three-month lookahead in the section below for more detail on the specific works that we will be delivering.

Three-month lookahead

Below is our forward look for upcoming activities over the next three months. We will update this regularly.

April

• Delivery of construction materials – this will include some additional noise from reversing vehicles
• Temporary weir plate will be installed on the top of the weir wall to create a safe working area within the draw dock and maintain flood protection whilst northern headwall is removed
• Deconstruct the northern headwall and carefully remove Carrara Wharf marble and provide to residents of Carrara Wharf
• De-water dock & transfer fish into the the River Thames
• De-silt dock

May

• Vegetation clearance prior to work
• Northern wall demolition – demolition of brickwork walls
• Remove sandbag and staircase access
• Remove planter from dock area
• Remove floating platform

June

• Install suitable protection to the grill on the western wall dock side
• Western wall - Protect the existing pipework from the temporary fill
• Trial hole/survey for water pipe