Osney Lock Hydro and the Environment Agency are pleased to announce that the Osney Lock site has now been fully mobilised and so construction work can begin on building the generator base for the Hydro and replacing the Weir B gates.
The first element of the work is to build cofferdams to keep the water out of the working area. These are put in both upstream and downstream of the site and are built by driving interlocking steel sheet piles into the riverbed. The upstream coffer dam will need to be removed if we have a period of heavy rain to let the floodwaters through the existing Weir B gates. This is normal practice and a flow monitoring and action protocol is in place should river flows increase significantly from normal.
The piling is expected to take around 10 working days and will take place Monday-Friday during working hours, i.e. 8am to 5pm.
Preparation for the work has included doing Condition Surveys of all buildings that might be affected by the work and providing a ‘quiet room’ at West Oxford Community Centre for those who might need it for the duration of the piling work.
The construction project at Osney Lock includes: building the Osney Lock Hydro scheme and replacing the buck gates at Weir B. Work is expected to last through the summer and into autumn. The Environment Agency will be undertaking separate work to improve Weir A and replace the Thames Path footbridge between October and December under a Lock Closure licence.