Woolwich Mast Quays

Woolwich is a fast-developing London borough on the south side of the River Thames and is home to the HYMAG Magazine Archive and the historical Royal Arsenal. Located adjacent to the Woolwich ferry terminal, Mast Quays is a luxury development of 2 and 3-bedroom riverside apartments, with panoramic views of the River Thames and vistas of the capital.

Aarsleff Ground Engineering was awarded the contract by developers Comer Group to install temporary and permanent retaining walls to allow for the 3 tower blocks and residential features to be constructed.

Being on the bank of the River Thames, the existing river wall which was constructed out of a traditional brick and required some extensive repairs due to being weathered and rundown by years of tidal currents.

Aarsleff utilised a crane suspended vibrator hammer to install a temporary sheet pile cofferdam around the section of the wall that needed to be repaired.

This provided a 2-metre wide dry and safe working area. Due to the tidal patterns of the Thames, Aarsleff had to ensure that the 60 metres of cofferdam was high enough to prevent water from overflowing into the working area whilst the repairs were taking place.

As part of the new development, the plans also included a water intertidal ecological feature that is to be connected to the Thames river.

This feature will tie into a communal area between the residential tower blocks and will encourage fish life to flourish in the area of the Thames.

Sheet piles were used to create thewater feature and were installed with Aarsleff’s vibrator hammer leader rig and excavator mounted Movax. Aarsleff returned in January to remove the sheet pile cofferdam and allow for the river Thames to flow into the new ecological water feature.