The Falkirk Wheel

The Falkirk Wheel, the world’s first rotating boat lift, connects the Union Canal to the Forth and Clyde Canal.
 
The principal elements of this scheme were:
          
  • 1.8km western extension to the Union Canal and associated structures.
  • Locks to lower the canal by 7.3m to allow it to pass below the Glasgow-Edinburgh railway line and the historical “Antonine Wall” within an 8m diameter 168m long tunnel.
  • A 100m long aqueduct carrying the canal to the boatlift, which transfers through the 23.7m level difference between the Union Canal to the Forth and Clyde Canal and vice versa.
  • A Visitors’ Centre providing facilities for tourists, function areas and office space for British Waterways
  • Scotland.
  • The regeneration of derelict industrial land and former opencast mine workings.
 
 
Client: British Waterways
Engineer: Arup
Value: £20 million