Royal Albert Dock
The Royal Albert Dock is one of three harbor basins in the Royal Docks in London's East End and is now part of the Docklands .
history
 
| |
Location of the Royal Albert Dock in Greater London |
The harbor basin was built east of the former Royal Victoria Dock by the St. Katharine & London Docks Company and opened in 1880. With a quay length of over 3 miles, it was even larger than the Royal Victoria Dock and had an entrance from Gallion's Reach of the Thames . To the south and west end were dry docks and ship repair workshops operated by R. & H. Green & Silley Weir (later River Thames Shiprepairers Ltd. ).
The harbor basin was closed to cargo shipping along with the other Royal Docks in the 1980s. But it was preserved and is now mainly used for water sports, e.g. B. as a rowing course. Ships also occasionally pass through it on their way to the Royal Victoria Dock and the exhibitions in the ExCeL Exhibition Center .
today
The most important facility in the area of these port facilities is now London City Airport , whose individual runway was built along the south side of the port basin, so that the Royal Albert Dock forms the northern boundary of the airport. The filled dry docks of the ship repair works are now under the runway. Aircraft movements can be clearly observed from the mostly publicly accessible north side of the harbor basin.
The traffic access to the port basin on the north side has been significantly improved. There are new roads and the Beckton Line on the Docklands Light Railway runs along the dock. At the west end is the London Regatta Center with the Chinese restaurant Yi-Ban built above . Next to it is a boathouse that is used by many rowers from various clubs. Then there is Building 1000 , an office building in the Royals Business Park , which stood empty for three years until July 2007 and was only used as a backdrop for various films. Building 1000 now belongs to the London Borough of Newham , which has relocated 2,500 employees to the building since April 2008. Next to this office building is a large vacant lot that is used as an additional parking lot for the ExCeL Exhibition Center, followed by pedestrian access to the harbor basin with a short runway that was used for the Red Bull Air Race in London in 2007 and 2008 . At the east end of the harbor basin is the Dockland Campus of the University of East London , which opened in 1999. Adjacent to the campus is the regatta course of the London Regatta Center, a rowing center of international standing, where the Queen Mary University of London Boat Club also rowed.
The dragon boat racing clubs Typhoon DBC , Thames DBC and Raging Dragons , as well as the Royal Docks Rowing Club , which consists mainly of underage members, are also located at the Royal Albert Dock .