The new floating jetty for the Lake District National Park’s visitor centre at Brockhole on Windermere has opened. The 50m long jetty is made of standard 5m wide ‘Dockmaster’ concrete pontoon units which are moored by ‘Seaflex’ tendons to concrete anchor blocks. This design solution was chosen on account of the ground conditions which consist of a few metres of soft silt overlying bedrock.

The Seaflex moorings restrain the jetty transversely but do not provide sufficient longitudinal restraint for a safe transition to the linkspan bridge to shore. Consequently the linkspan bridge itself is used to restrain the pier longitudinally with rubber fender units incorporated at the bankseat end to absorb the vessel berthing energy. Despite being a lake the water level of Windermere varies by up to 4m throughout the year and the design brief called for easy access for wheelchair users at all water levels. To accommodate water level variations of +/-2m a 28m long linkspan iwas designed while DDA compliant deck ramps and gangplanks provide step free access to all the lake’s passenger vessels.