News

Not content with generating green electricity, and income for local environmental projects, the OLH team are also keen for the hydro scheme to become a platform from which to tell the story of our river.  We would like local people visiting the site to learn about our community’s centuries old relationship with the Thames, and…

Earlier today we celebrated a successful conclusion to the groundbreaking partnership between Osney Lock Hydro and the Environment Agency to  build  the  hydro  base  and the  Weir  B  replacement  structure. The topping out ceremony was led by Howard  Davidson,  South  East  Regional  Director of the Environment  Agency.  He concluded the ceremony by unfurling a banner, aided by…

Osney Lock Hydro civil engineering completed We are pleased to announce that the civil engineering works on Osney Lock Hydro achieved practical completion on Friday 8th November.  Work was just about complete in time for our original target date of 17th October but the final finishing touches had to wait while the Greenford team focused…

We are delighted that the extraordinary support shown by local people towards the project was recently recognised at the Oxfordshire Community and Voluntary Action (OCVA) Awards where we won the fundraising award. The Osney Lock Hydro share offer raised over £500,000 in just four weeks. Without this swift and significant support, the project would not…

Hydro base emerging from the river bed; screw on order Great news of the last couple of weeks is that we have stopped digging and started building!  The photographs below show the base for the microhydro growing out of the riverbed and we can already see the distinctive curved end of the Powerhouse beautifully cast…

With the cofferdam in place, water has now been drained from the site of Weir B, so work on the riverbed can commence. The draining of the site also provides a unique opportunity to learn more about its history. A key point of interest is the century old winding gear for the weir. Oxford Archeology…

Construction of the cofferdam started on Monday 8th July.  In consultation with the Environment Agency, our contractors have slightly modified the design of the cofferdam. As a result the contractor has implemented a special piling head which as enabled them to use a relatively quiet piling technique using a ‘silent hammer’ or vibro-hammer. We have…

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…

We are dismayed to be once again announcing a further week’s delay to the start of pile driving on the site. The delay continues to be due to the finalising of the details relating to the leasing of the site. We had a very constructive meeting with the Environment Agency’s legal team today,  and expect…

Cofferdam construction One of the first tasks for the contractors will be to put in a cofferdam, to enable the civil engineering works to take place.  It is anticipated that the pile-driving will take around two weeks (10 working days) at the time of writing is now expected to start the week commencing 1st July. The…

As part of the preparation of the site, the Himalayan Cedar at Osney Lock was felled today along with a small crab apple tree and some shrubs.  This followed a visit by our ecologist to check the site for nesting birds.  There were no nests in the felled tree, but the sycamore and conifer trees…

And we’re off! The first consignment of kit arriving on site. We’ll be bringing you regular updates on our progress via the website.  Look out for updates in the news section as well via a new ‘construction’ area which will be going live shortly.