The Teviot Pontoon
The Teviot Pontoon is part of the Teviot Community Campus Project, led by Poplar HARCA and jointly funded by the London Marathon Foundation and Poplar HARCA and The Hill Group as part of the Teviot Estate Development Limited Liability Partnership’s social value commitment.
Through this partnership, we are helping to bring real benefits to the whole community as the Teviot estate is renewed. Over the course of the project, more than £240 million will go into community programmes and local initiatives, creating opportunities and support for people right across the area.
Local partners involved in implementing the Community Campus Project include Leaders in Community, the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, and Manorfield Primary School. The objective is to bring people and assets together to improve health and happiness.
The Teviot Pontoon is an important development to help residents access and make use of the canal. While the Teviot Community Campus project considers the wider environment, and is mindful of the Teviot masterplan, a significant part focuses on how the canal could support a greater range of initiatives such as:
• Physical Activity – Promoting water sports among children, young people, and adults, by contracting Moo Canoes, a water sports provider with whom we work in Bartlett Park. They can work with the school and other provider of children’s services in Teviot to make families and their children interested and engaged in water sports like kayaking, paddle boarding and canoeing.
• Education – The canal is also a potential educational asset for topics such as history, science, geography, and art – for both local children and adults. Moo canoes, our partner, can organise family boat trips, school trips and other educational activities on the boat.
• Environment – Cohorts of local and corporate volunteers can support the clean-up and potential re-wilding of the canal, helping to create a picturesque and thriving destination. We will also work with Thames 21, another partner who will deliver volunteer events and environmental outreach in the area. Thames 21 has been responsible for installing many of the reed beds in the canal.
• Connection – Teviot is a fairly isolated estate due to being enclosed on three sides by the A12, canal and railway tracks. Making the canal accessible will open access to other destinations via the water, such as Bartlett Park to the west and the Olympic Park to the east.
The pontoon will be managed by Poplar HARCA in partnership with partner water providers like Moo Canoes and the Oar & Explore Women’s Boat Club. The latter will use it as a base for water sports training for children, family boat trips and children & family healthy living programmes. There will also be programmes designed to engage with hard-to-reach groups.
There will be 2 outrigger canoes, plus 6 tandem kayaks and some stand-up paddle boards. This would enable the providers to deliver a variety of sessions for groups of between 6 to 30 people. Busier activity, such as open days, would be on Fridays or Saturdays, once or twice each summer.
The Oar & Explore women’s boat club will be based at the Teviot Community Centre off Wyvis Street. They have a boat storage across the road from the pontoon site.
The location and design of the pontoon complement proposals for the regeneration of the Teviot estate. In particular, it takes account of the potential for the redesign of the public realm adjacent to the canal and the future inclusion of a new pedestrian bridge link to the northern side of the canal.