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QE2 Pier
Peter Ackroyd on the QE2
'The siting of the Olympic Games of 2012 in Stratford, and the rest of the East End of London, will materially help the development and refurbishment of the river as a principal urban resource. There have already been signs of new industries, and new forms of industry, converging upon its banks. In particular the high-technology electronics companies have arrived in the Thames Valley, and there are many industrial 'parks' placed beside the river.'
'There are other schemes. The 'Thames Gateway Development' has been asked to secure the future refurbishment of the north bank of the river as far as the Thames Barrier itself. The 'East Thames Corridor' will continue the city along the estuary, as far as Tilbury in Essex and the Isle of Sheppey in Kent. The planning agencies have already been concerned with Dartford and Gravesend, with the Medway towns and with Thamesmead, as possible sites for growth. There are plans for new river-crossings, for an extension of the Dockland Light Railway and for a new bridge or tunnel between Silvertown and the Greenwith Peninsula.'
'London will then once more become a river city. The shift eastwards is against all historical trends. But then the reversion to the river itself was considered by many to be unhistorical. It had become, in the years of urban planners, redundant to the needs of the city. It had no future as a means of transport. But if the new city is to follow the line of the Thames, then new forms of river transport will inevitably emerge over the next century. The river will once more become the highway of the nation.'
Peter Ackroyd's Readings on the QE2
Hear Peter Ackroyd's Readings on the QE2
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History of the piers
History at QE2 Pier.
Download the exclusive Dark Waters history of the piers pdf here (pdf - 2MB).
Buildings around QE2 Pier
- Number Key for Dark Waters Map Side One
- 72-92
- (21 buildings)
- 72
- Stormwater Pumping Station
- Stewart Street, Isle of Dogs E14
- John Outram Associates
- RIBA Award 1990
- 73
- Robin Hood Gardens
- Robin Hood Lane E14
- Peter and Alison Smithson
- 74
- Blackwall Yard
- Blackwall Way E14
- Richard Rogers Partnership
- RIBA Award 1992
- 75
- Creekside Centre
- Deptford, Creekside SE8
- Alexander Sedgley
- 76
- Laban Centre
- Creekside SE8 3DZ
- Herzog & de Meuron (Royal Gold Medallists 2007)
- RIBA Award & Stirling Prize winner 2003
- 77
- Old Royal Naval College& Hospital
- Greenwich SE10
- Sir Christopher Wren (original)
- Nicholas Hawksmoor, James Stuart and
- John Webb
- Grade I listed and World Heritage Site
- 78
- National Maritime Museum
- Romney Road, Greenwich SE10 9NF
- David Alexander (original wings)
- Rick Mather Architects (1999)
- Grade I listed and World Heritage Site
- 79
- The Royal Observatory
- Greenwich SE10 9NF
- Sir Christopher Wren (original)
- Allies & Morrison (refurbishment)
- RIBA Award 2008
- Grade I listed and World Heritage Site
- 80
- Greenwich Foot Tunnel
- Cutty Sark Gardens, Greenwich SE10 9HT
- Sir Alexander Binnie
- 81
- Greenwich Power Station
- Greenwich SE10 9PB
- London County Council Architects Deptartment
- 82
- North Greenwich Station
- Millennium Way SE10 0PH
- Alsop, Lyall & Stormer
- RIBA Award & Stirling Prize shortlist 1999
- 83
- The Millennium Dome / O2 Arena
- Drawdock Road SE10 ODX
- Richard Rogers Partnership
- RIBA Award 2000
- 84
- Millennium Village Housing
- Greenwich SE10
- Ralph Erskine (masterplan)
- Erskine Tovatt (stage 1 housing)
- Proctor Matthews Architects (stage 2 housing)
- 85
- Sainsbury's Greenwich Peninsula
- 55 Bugsby Way SE10 0QJ
- Chetwood Associates
- RIBA Award & Stirling Prize shortlist 2000
- 86
- Greenwich Yacht Club
- Peartree Wharf, Greenwich SE10 0BE
- Frankl + Luty
- 87
- Trinity Buoy Wharf
- 64 Orchard Place E14 0JW
- James Douglass (Experimental Lighthouse)
- Nicholas Lacey and Partners (Container City)
- 88
- Peabody Trust Housing
- Evelyn Rd E16
- Niall McLaughlin
- RIBA Award 2005
- 89
- Royal Victoria Dock Bridge
- Silvertown E16
- Lifschutz Davidson
- RIBA Award 1991
- 90
- Thames Barrier Park
- North Woolwich Road E16
- Patel Taylor Architects
- RIBA Award 2001
- 91
- The Thames Barrier
- Unity Way, Woolwich, London SE18 5NJ
- Groupe Signes / Patel Taylor Architects / Arup
- RIBA Award 2001