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Tees Barrage
View of the Tees barrage, bridge and footbridge from the upstream north bank
Coordinates	54°33′51.84″N 1°17′10.32″W / 54.5644000°N 1.2862000°W / 54.5644000; -1.2862000
Carries	Motor vehicles (Tees Barrage Way) and pedestrians and cyclists on the footbridge (Teesdale Way)
Crosses	River Tees and Teesdale Way
Locale	Stockton-on-Tees, England, United Kingdom
Official name	Tees Barrage
Maintained by	British Waterways
Characteristics
Design	arched viaduct
Material	Concrete, welded tubular steel and plate steel
Total length	160 m
Longest span	17.5 m
No. of spans	8
Piers in water	3
Load limit	45 units of HB loading
Clearance below	5 m (5.37 m in the lock)
History
Designer	Ove Arup and The Napper Partnership
Construction start	November 4, 1991
Construction end	1995
Opened	April 22, 1995
Statistics
Daily traffic	very light
Location

The Tees Barrage is a barrage across the River Tees just upriver of Blue House Point in the borough of Stockton-on-Tees in North East of England and is used to control the flow of the river, preventing flooding and the effects of tidal change. The Tees Barrage comprises a river barrage, road bridge, footbridge, barge lock, fish pass and white water course. The waters above the barrage are held at the level of a permanent spring tide and are used for watersports such as canoeing, jetskiing, dragonboat racing and incorporate a near straight 1 km rowing course. The barrage is accessible by road only from Thornaby-on-Tees as there is very limited road access to the north bank of the Tees.

History

The Teesside Development Corporation proposed a barrage across the Tees in an act of Parliament and then organised a design competition for the barrage that was won by Ove Arup and the Napper Partnership. The barrage was constructed and opened by Tarmac Construction. Construction work was started on November 4, 1991 and involved diverting the Tees from its course. It was at the time the largest civil engineering project in the UK. The barrage has a design life of 120 years.

The barrage was opened on 22 April 1995 with an international competition on the white water course, and inaugurated on July 17 the same year by HRH the Duke of Edinburgh. In April 2001 ownership of the Tees Barrage and white water course was passed to British Waterways from its original owners English Partnerships.

Construction

The concrete base of the barrage is 70 m wide, 32 m long, 5 m thick and has five concrete piers. Inbetween the piers are four 50 tonne fish belly plates to control the flow of water, operated by 21 tonne hydraulic rams. The 600 ton road bridge is of a tubular steel arched viaduct design specified at 45 units of HB loading. The bridge has eight welded tubular steel arches each 17.5 m wide with a 5 m rise but only the four central arches actually cross the waters of the river Tees. The arches are sprayed with green paint and are sealed against corrosion. Some 16,500 cubic metres of concrete and 650 tons of steel went into the building of the barrage.

On the downstream side of the central pier is a 29m tower of lights with reflective globes and plates, supported by guy ropes. Illumination is provided by four lights incorporated into the base for ease of maintenance.

The barrage has two pavilions, one on the south bank, and a little-used one on the north bank, both extending under the road bridge. A visitors' centre is also planned for the barrage. The project also included the regeneration of 100 ha of adjacent derelict land producing riverside walks, parkland and leisure facilities.

Operation

British Waterways are also responsible for managing the 11 miles of navigable grade A two star waters of the river Tees from the barrage up to the Low Moor Weir at Low Worsall beyond Yarm. Operation of the river below the barrage is the responsibility of the Tees Conservancy Commission. Large quantities of natural debris such as branches are being washed down and caught by the barrage that otherwise would have been taken out to sea, and there are ongoing studies looking into the feasibility of burning this debris for power generation in power stations.

Barge Lock

The lock is a single-rise lock with two pairs of lock gates to allow light river traffic to negotiate the barrage. The dimensions of the lock are length 24.88 m, beam 6.08 m, height 5.37 m with a draught of 2.48 m. When the lock is in use a steel lifting bridge on the footbridge is raised to allow the passage of lock traffic. There is no charge to use the actual lock however users must have permits to use the river both above and below the barrage.

Tidal Turbine Test Facility

On 8 June 2007 a new facility was opened for testing prototype marine current turbines and other turbine devices. This facility is operated and funded by the New and Renewable Energy Centre - NaREC. It uses the hydraulic head in the barge lock to release water through sluices at a controlled velocity to create a simulation of steady ocean current conditions downstream of the lock.

The first turbine to be tested at this site was a surface-piercing horizontal axis turbine developed by offshore consultancy Overberg Ltd based in North Shields. The test was largely a success and further devices are booked including a Rugged Renewables Savonius rotor that is to be deployed as a building-mounted turbine. The development of this facility completes NaREC's portfolio of test facilities. The Blyth centre for excellence boasts facilities for testing the use of renewable energy resources such as solar PV, wind, wave and tidal power and has been instrumental in the development of the UK renewables sector.

Whitewater course

As part of the project, an artificial whitewater course was created that has since hosted many significant watersport competitions.

Footbridge

A steel footbridge carries walkers and cyclists across the concrete piers of the barrage on the Teesdale Way, part of the National Cycle Network. Although the public cannot gain direct access to the barrage itself, the footbridge affords excellent views of the fish belly plates and hydraulics. On the footbridge over the barge lock there is a simple steel lifting bridge to allow river craft to pass.

Fish Pass

To allow migratory salmon and sea trout to negotiate the barrage a fish pass with fish counter and viewing area is installed next to the north bank pavilion. Some angling groups argue that the progress of migratory fish is delayed below the barrier as fish have difficulty finding the very narrow entrance to the fish pass and that excessive numbers of foraging seals are taking advantage of this delay and are predating these fish thus damaging the recovery of salmonids on the Tees. The fish pass still only has provisional approval from the Environment Agency and as an interim measure fish pen stocks are being used on the river and the barrage lock is being operated in such a way as to allow fish to pass. Starting in April 2008 British waterways has commissioned a three-year electronic fish tagging survey to help understand the interactions and relationships between various wildlife at the barrage focussing on seal numbers and salmonid migration.

Tees Barrage Photo Gallery

• View along the footbridge / cycleway of Tees Barrage showing the (grey) hydraulic pistons, and the north bank pavilion in the background
• View through the north gate of Tees Barrage showing fish pass entrance (centre left) and monitoring camera (right)

See also

• Teesside White Water Course
• River Tees
• Teesdale Way

References

1. "River Tees Barrage and Crossing Act 1990" (PDF). HMSO. 1990-07-26. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
2. ^ Department of Civil Engineering. "Tees Barrage, Cleveland". University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 2008-11-21.
3. ^ Janberg, Nicolas (2007-02-28). "Tees Barrage Bridge". Structurae. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
4. ^ "Tarmac opens £50m Tees barrage". ContractJournal.com. 1994-10-13. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
5. ^ "Tees Barrage". Retrieved 2009-01-20.
6. Kenyon, Chris (March 2002). "A Trip up the Tees". Tees Rowing Club. Retrieved 2008-11-20.
7. ^ McLusky, Sarah (2003-10-09). "Holding back the tide". Cities of Science. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
8. ^ Simpson, David. "Timeline of North East History". The North East History Pages. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
9. ^ "The Tees Barrage". Picture Stockton. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
10. "Photo Tees Barrage". Trivago. Mar 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
11. ^ "Enough is enough - ACA demands new fish pass for the Tees Barrage". Martin James Fishing. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
12. ^ "Information about River Tees". waterscape.com. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
13. "Tees barrage gate floats in". ContractJournal.com. 1994-03-31. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
14. "River Tees - Crossings". Three Rivers Cycle Route. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
15. "Tees Barrage and Footbridge". Arup. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
16. Barlow, Rob (2007-08-24). "The Tees Barrage". BBC. Retrieved 2008-11-26.
17. ^ "Tees Barrage". WaterScape. 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
18. "Plan for barrage power generation". BBC News. 2005-11-02. Retrieved 2009-03-10.
19. "River Tees". Inland Waterways Association. 2006. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
20. Lloyd, Mark (2006-12-24). "Salmonid migration". Angling News. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
21. "Barrage 'threat to fish stocks'". BBC News. 2006-12-20. Retrieved 2008-11-29.

External links

• Tees Barrage on Bridges on the Tees
• Tees Barrage Bridge at Structurae
• Stockton Middlesbrough Initiative
• Tees Barrage details on Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council website
• Tees Barrage details at Waterscape.com

NaREC

• NaREC website
• NaREC Large-Scale turbine testing capabilities
• Newcastle Chronicle article on the opening of the test site.

• Barrages
• Crossings of the River Tees
• Bridges completed in 1995
• Pedestrian bridges
• Locks of England
• Bridges in County Durham
• Bridges in North Yorkshire
• Stockton-on-Tees Borough
• Locations in the Tees Valley