Continuing their improvements to Thames passenger piers Transport for London have had extensions constructed to both Bankside and Westminster piers. Designed by Beckett Rankine the Bankside extension cost £1.1m and the Westminster one £3.2m.

The extensions followed a feasibility study we carried out examining options for increasing the piers’ capacity. This study revealed that Bankside pier’s mooring dolphins were of inadequate strength for the latest generation of large riverboats so the project also included replacing the existing pier pontoon’s mooring piles.

The Bankside extension is constrained by the pier’s proximity to Southwark Bridge and the pier’s alignment which is not in line with the river flow. Our solution was for a short additional pontoon added to the upstream end of the pier.

At Westminster the existing pier consisted of five pontoons each 30m long. The downstream end pontoon has a V berth in it which was required to be retained so simply adding an additional pontoon to the downstream end was not practical. Instead the end pontoon was moved downstream by 30m and a new inner pontoon was added in the location where it was originally.

Westminster also need a new large monopile which, due to the proximity of the listed Embankment wall, was installed by pre boring a hole, placing the pile and grouting it in position.

The Westminster extension has enabled MBNA Thames Clippers to include Westminster in their schedule and they now call there 66 times per day. The Bankside extension has enabled City Cruises to run a new service alongside Circular Cruises and MBNA Thames Clippers.