The Holiday Inn at Port Nelson is at an impressive location opposite London’s Canary Wharf. Guests can arrive by riverboat and approach the hotel through the covered landing stage and access bridge. The nautical flavour has been maintained on this historic site by dry-docking a three mast sailing ship for use as a restaurant.

Beckett Rankine designed and specified the new marine facilities, secured approvals from authorities, prepared tenders, and then supervised and administered the construction contracts. This work included piling, dredging, pontoon, bridges, river wall repairs and ship dry-docking.

The pontoon was located close to the shore to avoid interference with the main shipping channel, but this meant that dredging was required. Although the light steel pontoon has only a 1.2 metre draught, it was necessary to remove more than 2 metres of silt to ensure riverboat access to the pontoon at low water.