New lock gates fitted in major canal works
7 days ago
Adele WilkinsonLeicester
Canal and River Trust
Two brand-new lock gates have been installed at Gees Lock
New lock gates have been lifted into the canal near Glen Parva as part of vital conservation work on canals in Leicestershire.
The Canal and River Trust (CRT) has installed the gates at Gees Lock, with further works also taking place at Gas Pipe Lock and Pywells Lock near Fleckney.
The gates are replaced every 25 years once they reach the end of their lifespan, and teams are also working to restore brickwork within the locks.
The works at the locks form part of a £1.3 million programme of repairs taking place at various waterways across the East Midlands.
Canal and River Trust
The gates are specially crafted in the Canal and River Trust's two main workshops
The project at Gees Lock has been made possible due to funds raised from players of the People's Postcode Lottery, which has enabled the lock gates there to be replaced with new ones.
Each of the gates are individually designed and hand-built at one of the CRT's two specialist workshops.
The gates are built using traditional techniques by skilled craftspeople.
Stewart Lee, site supervisor at Gees Lock for the CRT, said: "With this particular lock, because of its remote location, we are replacing the bottom set and top set of lock gates, so it's quite a big job.
"We've had to split the job into two, so phase one was the top gates and phase two was the bottom gates."
Stewart Lee said it was a two-day job to get materials over to the site and back by boat
Lee said a job like this normally took eight weeks, but because this job was a bigger one and there was limited space in the area, this one had taken a little longer than normal.
He added: "The weather hasn't helped, because we've been flooded, and it's a day's travel to get to the yard to get materials.
"Everything on site has come by boat, as there's no vehicle access, so the only way to get plant, machinery and equipment to site is via the waterways.
"So it's a day's travel to where we've got to go, load up and then it's another day's travel to come back to unload, and we can only take so much."
Stephen Hardy said the locks were inspected regularly so potential replacements could be planned in advance
Communications manager for the CRT, Stephen Hardy, said the replacement of lock gates was part of an annual winter maintenance programme when there were fewer boats around.
He added: "The lock gates typically last around 25 years, they're made of oak and they're constantly getting wet and dry as the lock is used, and our expert teams are inspecting them regularly.
"They'll draw up a programme of which gates need replacing next winter, and they're handmade in our own workshops."
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