Greenwich Peninsula
The Greenwich Peninsula is a peninsula that is bordered on three sides by the River Thames, between the Isle of Dogs and Silvertown. To the south is the rest of Greenwich, in south-eastern district of Charlton.
The peninsula is part of the Royal Borough of Greenwich. Formerly called Greenwich Marshes this site or Bugsby 's Marshes, then East Greenwich in the 19th century, today often North Greenwich same because of lying there underground station name. This is not to be confused with North Greenwich on the Isle of Dogs, the northern point of application of an earlier ferry from Greenwich. The northernmost point of the peninsula on the banks of the Thames is called Blackwall Point, which is also the name Blackwall Peninsula, which was sometimes used in the late 20th century for this peninsula, led.
One of the landmarks include The O ₂ (formerly the Millennium Dome) and the southern end of the Blackwall Tunnel, but this area was greatly changed.
History
The peninsula was drained by Dutch engineers in the 16th century, so that they could be used as pasture. In the 17th century became known to the Blackwall Point across from Blackwall as a place were suspended from the corpses of pirates in cages - as a deterrent for people who played with the idea, also to be pirates.
Since the early 19th century, the peninsula was further industrialized steadily. 1857 the Parliament a plan for a large dock was presented which occupy a large part of the peninsula and the Blackwall Reach in the west Bugsby 's Reach should be connected to the east, but it was not realized. One of the early industrial settlements included Henry Blakeley 's Ordnance Works for the Großwaffenbau, chemical factories, submarine cable manufacturer, shipyards and iron and steel plants. Henry Bessemer built the early 1860s a steel mill to supply the London shipbuilding industry, but he had to close due to lack of demand due to the financial crisis of 1866 again. Later came oil mills, shipbuilding (eg the 1870 -built clipper Blackadder and Hallowe'en from the Maudsley shipyard), boiler, manufacturer of Portland cement and linoleum ( from Bessemer steel works were later the Victoria Linoleum Werke) and the huge gas plant of South Metropolitan gas Co..
For over 100 years the peninsula has been dominated by the gas works, the main town gas - also known as coal gas - produced. The gasworks grew up on an area of 970,000 m², making it the largest in Europe. It also provided coke, tar and chemicals used as an important by-products. The site had its own railway line, which was connected to the main railway line near Charlton, and at a large pier coal was unloaded and loaded coke. There were large gas boiler with 240,000 m³ and 345,000 m³. The larger gas boiler ( formerly the largest in the world ) was reduced to a volume of 250,000 m³ after a blast injury in 1917, but was so still the largest in England until he was again damaged by a bomb in 1978 the Provisional Irish Republican Army. The plant, which originally produced gas from coal, was operated from the 1960s with oil. The peak production of 11.3 million cubic meters of gas per day in mid -1960s to have been the largest in the world. The discovery of natural gas reserves in the North Sea, the gas station was soon obsolete.
On the east bank the Blackwall Point Power Station was; the original power plant from the 1890s was in the 1950s, replaced by a new one, which in 1981 ceased its operation. A large area including the Victoria Linoleumwerke 1966 Victoria Deep Water Terminal for container ships.
At the southern end of the peninsula, the Enderby 's Wharf was the successor of the well-known Seekabelhersteller from 1857, such as Glass Elliot, William T. Henley, Telcon, Submarine Cables Ltd. , STC, Nortel and Alcatel occupied.
The peninsula was to be achieved by the opening of the Blackwall Tunnel 1897 bad from Central London and had no connection to the public transport until the opening of the subway station North Greenwich on the Julilee line 1999.
The closure of the gas plant, the power plant and other industries end of the 20th century, leaving behind nothing but industrial wasteland on the Greenwich Peninsula, most of it is heavily contaminated.
Until now, some industries have survived on the west side of the peninsula between the waterfront and the southern access road of the Blackwall Tunnel, such as Alcatel, the (closed in September 2009 ) Tunnel refiner - glucose plant (up to about 2008 part of Tate & Lyle ) and two large port facilities on the grounds of Delta Metals and Victoria Deep Water terminal. One of the two gas-fired boiler is also yet.
New construction since the early 1990s
Public and private Investitonsprojekte have since the early 1990s changed the topography of the Greenwich Peninsula crucial. 1997 buys English Partnerships, the British Stadtentwicklungsgesellschaft 1.21 km ² unused land on the peninsula. An investment of £ 225 million contributed to the expansion of public transport, creating new living space, new retail space and space for public facilities. So also green areas along the river were created.
In addition to the Millennium Dome is also a new road on the east side of the peninsula were built in anticipation of new development projects. New river walkways, bicycle paths and art installation were also created. The first two phases of the Greenwich Millennium Village resulted in distending residential development, which also includes the Millennium Primary School ( Elementary School ), a medical center, a nature park and an adjacent training center. Similarly, a Holiday Inn hotel was built nearby and the Greenwich Yacht Club received a new terrain on the east side of the Millennium Dome.
Metro Station North Greenwich on the Jubilee Line was opened in 1999. It is one of London's biggest underground stations and also has a bus terminal. The QEII Pier offers ferry service to other parts of London and is located by the Thames to the east of the Metro station.
2004, the land use plan for the further transformation of the land has been approved, which also further 10,000 homes, tens of millions of square feet of commercial space and the reconstruction of the Millennium Dome to a sports hall with the name O2 are included. Just south then at The O2 was built a new public square. On the east side of this square is produced since 2009 a new campus for Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication, which is scheduled to open in autumn 2010. In the southeast of the square stands the six-storey building houses 14 Pier Walk the offices of the London Transport Company ( TfL).
South of this complex, the soccer school David Beckham Academy has established itself in a large temporary structure. And about 400 m to the south lies the Pilot Inn Pub one of the oldest buildings of the Greenwich Peninsula.
Further development
The south of the peninsula is now built up with houses (the last construction phase of the Greenwich Millennium Village ) and The O2 is the venue for the 2012 Summer Olympics, the current building of the David Beckham Academy is the training site for the games and then the temporary structure will be torn down to to make room for new residential development. The renovation is scheduled to last a total of 28 years. The chances of an economic recovery after the reopening of the Millennium Dome are doubtful, but the better accessibility of the Greenwich Peninsula from Canary Wharf, Silvertown and the City of London by the Jubilee line has the potential for new residential development improved significantly.