Canning Town - Bow Creek entrance

[alex397]

Perhaps a bit of a 'niche' question, but while at Canning Town Station today, I noticed a 'new' entrance/exit for Bow Creek and the 'London City Island' (the latter via a new footbridge over the creek).

While it seems this entrance has only recently opened, it looks like it was built at the same time as the whole 1999 building. So, my question is, was this entrance purposely built as a potential entrance/exit back in '99, and only just opened, or has it always been opened but i've never noticed it?

I have an interest in infrastructure which is built and not used. There are plenty of examples of this across the London Docklands. And by this Bow Creek exit, there is a whole footpath and streetlamps which obviously date back to the 80's development (or more likely, the 1999 Canning Town station), which doesn't seem to have been used until now, like the station entrance. When looking on older satellite photos, you can see this footpath along the river in place but seemingly with no where to go.

 

[edwin_m]

Chapter and verse here:

https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/exit-to-bow-creek.html

This is the Rotunda Building at Canning Town station, originally part of the enlargement works for the Jubilee line extension. If you come down from the trains into the ticket hall and prepare to turn right towards the bus station, the base of the Rotunda Building is on your left. You won't see it, you'll only see a door. It's a posh door too, with a lattice design overlaid on the glass, and the name of a housing development alongside. Push the door open, assuming it's not locked, and you'll see a lift (and a 70-step staircase curling round it) leading up to a silvery concrete rotunda at ground level. This exit leads out to Bow Creek, and a riverside promenade with lamps and benches that's been sealed off for well over a decade. Hurrah, a secret section of the lower River Lea has finally been reopened to the public!

 

[rebmcr]

The lift has been out of action for an extended period recently — it's my local so I get emails about it from TfL.

 

[alex397]

Chapter and verse here:

https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/exit-to-bow-creek.html

Thanks for that, that answers everything really! I forgot how good the diamondgeezer blog is, I should look at it more often!

 

[spinba11]

The lift has been out of action for an extended period recently — it's my local so I get emails about it from TfL.

That’s the lift via the new entrance isn’t? Is the lift at the other entrance still working?

 

[rebmcr]

That’s the lift via the new entrance isn’t? Is the lift at the other entrance still working?

Yes, the lift on the Bus Station side is unaffected.

 

[Taunton]

It's been open for quite a while. Here's a 2016 photo of the entrance. The paths have been walkable for a long time, got to from an obscure set of steps down from the westbound slip road from the Canning Town roundabout going towards Canary Wharf, here https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5...4!1s8bc3TxxWsJnsi9Dxe0LcVA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 . They are quite extensive and laid out as parkland, they broadly go alongside the DLR both ways from Canning Town. There's a huge encased footbridge over the DLR and a second footbridge over the River Lea. I've hardly seen another person there.

 

[cybergreg]

Is the lift working now?

 

[rebmcr]

Is the lift working now?

I'll have a look this evening and report back.

 

[spinba11]

According to the TFL site it’s working.

 

[cybergreg]

Thank you! Can you help me put together a timeline?
As far as I understand:
May 1999 - station opens, lift is ready but this particular exit is not open
City Island gets built
Aug 2016 - exit opens, lift opens
Aug 2016 - exit & lift closed "for the foreseeable future"
Date? - exit opens but no lift
Date? - lift is working as normal

 

[rebmcr]

The stairs were still open while the lift was shut.

 

[cybergreg]

The stairs were still open while the lift was shut.

In DG's post referenced above, there was certainly a time when the whole exit was closed (he had to go around to leave the station).

 

[Taunton]

The note (and the TfL notice) refers to a "Compliance issue". The Diamond Geezer link ponders why, if the lift had technical issues (it did), the staircase could not still be used. But that's how it is for modern structures. If there isn't an accessible route, then nobody is allowed to use it.

Incidentally, many of the apartments on the "island" are now in occupation.

 

[jellybaby]

If there isn't an accessible route, then nobody is allowed to use it.

That's clearly not the case in general as it is fairly common for lifts at DLR stations to be unavailable due to planned refurbishment and yet they don't close the station.