The construction of our dry dock

As part of our regeneration plans for Cody Dock we are planning construct a new purpose made dry docking. Once complete this dry dock will harness the power of the Lea’s tide to lift boats of up to 40m in length out of the water within a fully enclosed building to enable servicing, hull maintenance and surveying.

History of shipbuilding on the River Lea

The Lower Lea River was once synonymous with the art of ship building and throughout the 1800’s was in fact the largest ship building centre for the south of England. In particular the Thames Ironworks, Shipbuilding and Engineering Company produced large numbers of mail steamers, over 140 warships and many of the first generation of self-righting lifeboats that were deployed up and down the length of the UK. Survey maps of the 1860s show their yard occupying a large triangular site down stream from Cody Dock on the eastern bank of Bow Creek and with a smaller site on the west bank beside what is now Trinity Buoy Wharf. The main yard had a 320m long quay and two slipways giving direct access to the Thames. Today the site is crossed by the A1020 Lower Lea Crossing and the Docklands Light Railway south of Canning Town station. Notable ships include the world’s first iron clad warship the HMS Warrior which is now located at Portsmouth’s maritime museum and is listed as part of the National Historic Fleet and the Yavari which was purchased by the Peruvian government and still to this day is working on Lake Titicaca!

The new dry dock

Work on this element of Cody Dock’s new development will begin in earnest after GDP has secured its outline planning permission which is expected to happen in the spring of 2018. The plan is to construct the Dry Dock facility in time for when the dock’s restoration in completed. The time line for this will be subject to the success of our fundraising efforts and securing the appropriate delivery partners, we are however currently anticipating to have this facility up and running by 2023 – 2024. The new dry dock building will enable us to work on one big vessel of up to 40m long by 6m wide or alternatively several narrow boats at any one time.

These dry docking facilities will not only provide our charity with another sustainable income stream and generate new jobs for local people but is also intended to create a living window into the Lea’s rich ship building and maritime heritage. With this in mind the building will include a window along its length and viewing platform to enable the public to see inside.

Once operational the dry dock will primarily be targeted at the many residential and leisure craft that reside in London, offering a highly competitive and convenient alternative to having to take one’s boat out of London for purposes of conducting out of water surveys and maintenance.


Dry docking fees & other charges

Dry docking fees will be costed on a per job basis and the following price list is meant as a guide only.

  • Dry docking for boats of 20m to 40m in length and between 3m and 6m wide £300 per day.
  • Dry docking for boats up to 19m in length and between 3m and 6m wide £150 per day.
  • Dry docking for boats of up to 25m in length and up to 2.5m wide £150 per day.
  • Deposit for key to on shore wash block with metered showers, washing machine & tumble dryer £5.
  • Cody Dock will be operating a small number of basic non-tidal visitor moorings for boats either waiting to be dry docked and undergoing repairs or simply wishing to do a short stay visiting for no more than 14 days.
  • Mooring fee for boats of 10m to 40m are £1 per meter per day.
  • Mooring fee for visiting boats of 9m and under are £10 per day.
  • Pump Out for sewerage or grey water tanks £25 for up to 250 litres and 10 pence per litre thereafter.
  • 16amp metered electrical hook charged at 14 pence per kWH + a daily service charge of £1.
  • Deposit for key to on shore wash block with metered showers, washing machine & tumble dryer £5.
  • One visitor car parking space per boat £4 per day
  • Additional and short stay visitor parking is free for the first 30 minutes and £1 per hour thereafter.