Similar Restoration Projects

A number of completed, planned, and ongoing projects have inspired the Restoring Preston Basin campaign; 12 are outlined below. The first five locations can be visited within or just over an hour from Preston. The remaining two examples are Preston Basin's counterparts: Canal Head in Kendal, and Walton Summit Park on the site of Summit Basin, Clayton-le-Woods.

Bridgewater Hall Basin, Manchester

Bridgewater Hall Basin was opened in 1996 on the approximate site of an arm of the Manchester and Salford Canal, in conjunction with the Bridgewater Hall, home of The Hallé orchestra. In recent years, to improve the biodiversity of the canal and its aquatic life, Manchester City Council’s Green Infrastructure team and BDP Landscape Architects worked with Biomatrix Water to install a series of floating ecosystems - moveable 'active islands' in the basin which now home to rare aquatic plants. 

The active islands are designed to be low maintenance, last approximately 20 years and flower throughout the year. Artificial strands allow the islands to be rooted and sway, allowing for fish to hide and spawn in, and bacteria growth which improves water quality and reduces pollution. The islands provide useful food sources for birds, bees, insects and bats and fish, and valued blue and green space in the heart of Manchester.

A diagram showing the value and benefits of 'floating ecosystems', their design and application in natural and man-made waterways. Images courtesy of Biomatrix Water.

At the head of the basin, terraced seating helps knit the basin in with the neighbouring Bridgewater Hall, Barbirolli Square, and Manchester Central convention centre. 

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Middlewood Locks, Salford

Restoration of a 1,433 ft (437 m) length of the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal in Salford took place between 2006 and 2008 by Preston based firm VolkerStevin. Previously infilled in 1969, the restored canal arm incorporates three historic basins and forms the green and blue spine of Middlewood Locks, an expanding residential and mixed use quarter in Salford on the border with Manchester city centre and the River Irwell. On completion, the Middlewood Locks development will provide 2,000 homes, 900,000 sq ft of commercial space, 4.5 acres of public realm and event space based around the canal, a hotel and leisure amenities.

Above: the main 300 ft (91 m) long stretch of restored canal at Middlewood Locks seen in 2022 which is approximately the same length as Preston Basin.

The restoration marks the start of a long-term ambition by the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal Society to restore the entire 15.2 mile length of canal to both Bolton and Bury despite significant obstacles, namely road construction and development, that has taken place over the canal’s alignment. The entire canal alignment is protected from development that could jeopardise its full restoration by three local authorities: Salford City Council, Bolton Council and Bury Council which the canal passes through. 

Above: The same 300 ft (91 m) long section of canal under restoration on 14 April 2008 showing the partial reuse of the original washwall of the canal. Image courtesy of Paul Hindle, Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal Society.

Where possible the original stone washwalls of the excavated canal were reused and were simply pointed and grouted in situ. In other sections new concrete walls and bottoms were installed with brick and stone coping. 

Above: The canal as it was uncovered in April 2007 having been filled in since the late 1960s. This view looks towards central Manchester and the Beetham tower, and the canal now forms the central spine of the Middlewood Locks development. Image courtesy of Paul Hindle, Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal Society.

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Above: An artist impression of phase 3 of the Middlewood Locks development called The Railings. This phase was approved in 2021 and is under-construction as of 2022. 

Murrays’ Mills, Ancoats, Manchester

Murrays’ Mills is the oldest surviving steam powered cotton spinning factory complex in the world. The first blocks Old or Decker Mill and New Mill were built from 1798 by Scottish brothers Adam and George Murray. Together with later blocks the mills formed a courtyard around a dedicated canal basin which was reached by a short tunnel from the Rochdale Canal. 

The basin was constructed at some point after the completion of the Ancoats section of the Rochdale Canal in 1804 and was considered a unique feature, facilitating the import of raw materials namely raw cotton and coal, and the export of finished goods such as yarn, as well as a source of water for the mills’ steam engine condensers. 

In the early 20th century the basin and tunnel fell out of use and was filled in as the mill moved from steam to electrical power. Between 2004 and 2006 the mill complex shell repairs were undertaken with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the North West Development Agency (NWDA), and between 2003 and 2006 archaeological work led by the Ancoats Buildings Preservation Trust filled the canal basin with water (although the canal tunnel remained blocked). The entire complex was converted into a complex of apartments between 2016 and 2019 by architects Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios.

The canal basin was again infilled and hard and soft landscaped to form the centrepiece to the enclosed courtyard. Note the outline of a barge landscaped into the centre of the arch shaped basin using a different shade of paving stone.

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Mayfield Park, Manchester

Mayfield Park is Manchester's newest park in over 100 years, opening in 2022. It covers a 6.5 acre site south of the former Manchester Mayfield railway station and is dissected by the meandering River Medlock, which was uncovered for the first time in 50 years as part of the scheme. Most of the park lies on the site of the former Mayfield Print Works, and has been described as a 'sequence of spaces' joining useable space for people with space for habitats.

The redevelopment went to extraordinary lengths to reuse and repurpose material including stone and hogback bridge beams, 'Whenever possible, existing materials and structures have been reused and recycled across Mayfield. The site has a unique industrial heritage that will be celebrated and revived to form a place for the future rooted in its past. The cavernous Depot building, railway arches and three bridges have been retained, and historic details such as the Mayfield Baths tiles preserved and saved for use elsewhere on site. Materials have also been sourced locally to minimise the environmental impact of the development and construction process.' (https://mayfieldpark.com/).

Incredibly, '13 wells, artefacts from the Victorian era, were unearthed throughout the construction process. Three of these are still functional and will be used to irrigate the plants and trees throughout the park, each pumping up to 20 cubic meters of water per day. The largest of these was used to supply the former Britannia Brewery, which was based on the east of the site in the late 19th and early 20th Century.' (https://mayfieldpark.com/).

Uncovering the Medlock allowed this section of the river to be rehabilitated and restored with riverine habitats. The surrounding site will be redeveloped over time and will include 1,500 homes, one million square feet of office space, and a 350 bedroom hotel.

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Lancaster Canal, Whittle-le-Woods

The restored Lancaster Canal in shallow water looking towards Moss Bridge and the former Duke of York Basin.

An isolated, 550 ft (168 m) length of the Lancaster Canal at Whittle cutting was restored and opened in May 1993 as part of a nature trail between Moss Bridge and the western portal of the west Whittle Hills tunnel, Whittle-le-Woods. The canal is in shallow water and is fed from general drainage and rainwater run-off. 

The restoration was undertaken between Lancashire County Council, Chorley Borough Council and Preston Conservation Volunteers and is maintained by Whittle-le-Woods Parish Council. Previously the canal had been used as a dumping ground. The site of the adjacent Duke of York Basin was landscaped in the 1980s and incorporates millstones found during the renovation of a drain. The millstones were quarried at the nearby Whittle Hills Quarries, where they were then transported by barge to Liverpool for export. 

Camley Street Natural Park, St. Pancras - King's Cross, London

Camley Street Natural Park opened in 1985 on the site of a Great Northern Railway (GNR) coal drop by the Regent's Canal in King's Cross. Covering a two-acre site, the reserve contains a small woodland, grassland and wetland including ponds and reedbeds.

The park is modelled off the Dutch 'heempark' or home park of naturalistic planting. They provide a rich habitat for birds, butterflies, amphibians and plant life, on the borders of inner and central London and by St. Pancras International and King's Cross railway stations. 

Run by the London Wildlife Trust (LWT), Camley Street Natural Park has become a 'powerful symbol of the potential for natural regeneration of the inner city.' The site was threatened by development twice; in 1982 local activists working with the LWT convinced the Greater London Council to withdraw plans for a coach park. In 1988, the site found itself in the middle of proposed high-speed railway lines when King's Cross railway station was considered as a terminus for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. The LWT campaigned against the proposals and in 1993, the plans were dropped with St. Pancras railway station chosen as the preferred terminus a year later. The original aim of the park was 'to provide an opportunity for children in central London to have direct contact with nature. It was soon booked solid by local schools, attracting 10,000 schoolchildren every year by 1990.'

The regeneration of the 67 acre King's Cross railway lands began in 1998 by Argent St. George. In 2017, a pedestrian bridge by Moxon Architects was added over the Regent's Canal, directly linking the nature reserve with Gasholder Gardens, the canal towpath and the wider King's Cross Central development. A new learning and visitor centre was added in 2020.

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Thames Barrier Park, Silvertown, London

The Thames Barrier Park was London’s newest park in 50 years when it opened in November 2000 on a former brownfield site in Silvertown in the London Borough of Newham. Situated on the north bank of the Thames by the Thames Barrier, the 23 acre (9.3 hectare) park features a 130 ft long sunken garden created in a ‘green dock’ reflecting the area’s long maritime history.

The sunken green dock is partly built on the site of Prince Regent's Wharf and creates its own micro-climate for plants and wildlife sheltered from winds. It forms the central feature of the park, bisecting the site diagonally northwest to Pontoon Dock Docklands Light Railway (DLR) station which opened in 2005. The sides of the 'dock' are built at 70 degrees and entirely covered in greenery, supporting climbing plants.

The Thames Barrier Park stands on previously derelict and contaminated land once used by a chemical and dye works and a tarmac plant.  


The park was the result of a competition held in 1995 and won by Groupe Signes and Patel Taylor to design a new park to kick-start private investment in the area.

Regent's Canal, King's Cross, London

The ongoing redevelopment of King's Cross in London is one of Europe's largest regeneration projects. Central to which has been the creation of Granary Square north of King’s Cross and St Pancras railway stations on the north bank of the Regent's Canal which winds its way through the site. 

Above: Looking west along the Regent's Canal during 'Screen on the Canal', a free open-air film festival.

The canal can be accessed via steps which people can relax on, and watch outdoor films. The neighbouring square is roughly equal in size to Trafalgar Square and opened in 2012 by the Granary Building, now home to a university. 

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Catharijnesingel Canal, Utrecht, Netherlands

September 2020 saw the completion of an integral part of Utrecht’s Station Area Master Plan to restore the historic Catharijnesingel canal in the centre of Utrecht, the Netherlands. The canal had been partly filled in for an 11 lane motorway in the mid-1970s until the road’s permanent closure in 2010. 

Above: A before and after composition of the inner ring road and the same spot converted back to a canal near the Marga Klompé bridge.

Excavating and restoring the canal began in stages from 2015 with the final section between Mariaplaats to the Bartholomeus bridge, the Catharijnesingel Zuid opening in 2020.  The canal is now flanked by a sloping, linear park and meadows, step seating and a mixed use development by Utrecht Centraal railway station. Catharijnesingel translates as ‘Catherine’s waterway’. 

The Hoog Catharijne shopping centre  spans the canal linking the railway station with the historic city centre and includes glass panels to allow natural light through to the canal below. Visitors and shoppers can watch paddleboarders, boats and canoes pass beneath and nearby outdoor seating steps down to the canal. Image courtesy of OKRA Landscape Architects.

In July 2022, the restoration project was selected as one of five finalists of 300 entries for the European Public Space Prize 2022:


‘OKRA’s design covered the final phase in an ambitious effort of the city to return the canal surrounding the historic city to its former glory, after a significant part of it had been sacrificed for motorized traffic in the 20th century. The completion of the Catharijnesingel reinstates the original structure of the area while at the same time adapting the location to answer current challenges, creating social, green-blue places for people and animals at the heart of the city.’  

Tanner Springs Park, Portland, USA

Tanner Springs Park was opened in 2010 in the centre of Portland, Oregon and provides an excellent example of a Nature-based Solution (NBS) and multipurpose space incorporating a Sustainable Drainage System (SuDS), wildlife, and amenity space. Covering a relatively small, 0.4 hectare (1 acre) area, the park was redeveloped from a brownfield site on land previously used by railway yards and near the banks of the filled in Couch Lake and culverted Tanner Creek channel. 

The park supports an intricate urban habitat and ecology representing a transect of major plant communities found in the Williamette Valley which Portland sits at the north end of. The design process engaged the local community through a series of public consultations and workshops. The plan above explains how the park acts as a SuDs.

Boardwalks allow visitors to explore and view the wetland while lawn terraces border the edges. One side of the park is bounded by a wall of reclaimed railway rails reflecting the area's industrious past. 

Canal Head, Kendal

An artist's impression of the restored Lancaster Canal at Canal Head, Kendal flanked by mixed use developments. The view looks southwest with the River Kent beyond while the premises of Gilbert, Gilkes & Gordon lie at the head of the restored basin. 

It remains an ambitious plan to reopen the entire 14 mile length of Lancaster Canal Northern Reaches between Tewitfield Locks and Kendal. In the meantime, the route remains safeguarded from intrusive development and forms the Lancaster Canal Trail. See also: https://lctrust.co.uk.

In this undated view of Canal Head Basin, Kendal, coal is being unloaded by wheelbarrow having arrived the 57 mile canal journey from Preston Basin. The twin warehouse archways remain extant within the premises of Gilbert Gilkes & Gordon, and coping stones that lined the basin are visible today within the grounds of a council operated recycling centre. A Google Street View from a nearby spot to the historical photograph: https://maps.app.goo.gl/sSmcQBXRNPjtsxcA9. 

The final 14 miles of the Lancaster Canal between Tewitfield and Kendal was delayed by the Napoleonic Wars with work beginning in 1813 and concluding with a grand opening on 18 June 1819. Canal Head once represented the northernmost point of the English canal system but with the construction of the M6 motorway in 1968, the Lancaster Canal was severed just north of Tewitfield Locks. Tewitfield once again became the northern terminus of the Lancaster Canal.

Walton Summit Park, Clayton-le-Woods

Walton Summit Park was created in 1970 on the site of Walton Summit Basin, Preston Basin's southern counterpart in Clayton-le-Woods. Unable to raise the capital required to complete the Lancaster Canal between the two basins, the Lancaster Canal Company opted to link the two basins by the 4½ mile double track Preston - Walton Summit Tramroad. This 2022 view looks southeast, towards Summit Bridge. 

According to a watching brief was undertaken by Oxford Archaeology North between November 2003 and January 2004 at Clayton Brook, near Walton Summit, Lancashire (centred on NGR SD 5826 2456), 'It remains unknown how much of the canal basin and warehouse survive beneath the modern overburden. However, in the area of the inclined plane and tram plateway, a sandstone surface comprising sandstone blocks, thought to be bedding sleepers for the tramway, were encountered between 1.35m and 0.4m below the current ground surface. This is clear evidence for the survival of much of the feature and suggests that it remains, probably mostly intact, beneath a much lesser depth of modern overburden.' The incline is behind the photographer. For more detail, see Lancaster Canal & Tramroad today. 

A view captured on 5 May, 1968 taken in a similar spot to the 2022 view, looking southeast. It was taken by one of five teenagers including Hugh Potter who canoed along the Lancaster Canal 'Summit Branch' to Walton Summit Basin, knowing it was about to be de-watered and filled in with spoil from the M61 motorway construction. The motorway severed the canal where the canal disappears from view in the photo. The stone wall supported the uprights to the basin's central warehouse, which can be seen on this OS Map of 1912: https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=18.4&lat=53.71592&lon=-2.63381&layers=168&b=ESRIWorld&o=100. 

In 'The Walton Summit Branch: An Obituary', Hugh Potter wrote 'The Summit Branch is to be crossed at low level by the M61 Motorway. It has been sadly neglected for many years, and this new development is seen as the final act in its long history. Contract work, due to commence on 1st May [1968], will, in theory, ensure that the whole length is filled to towpath level, excepting the first half mile, to be used as moorings. This seems a most undeserving fate for such a potential amenity, but perhaps more foresight in the future will prevent other such losses.' See also Hugh Potter's account in 'Last boat to Walton Summit' under Lancaster Canal & Tramroad today. Image courtesy of Hugh Potter.

Canal and waterway restoration

Since the 1950s, hundreds of miles of canals and waterways have been restored throughout the UK. From the year 2000, over 200 miles of canal have been restored. Details of over 50 active canal and waterway restoration projects in England and Wales can be found here: https://waterwaysworld.com/canalsrivers/restoration_projects/.