Putney Embankment’s riverside park has been closed off behind wire fencing this week as maintenance crews work on the Thames Tideway super sewer that runs beneath the site, with engineers unable to confirm when the area will reopen to the public.
The closure affects the entire park space built above the tunnel’s 36-meter-deep access shaft, where engineers can be seen using winches to descend vertically into the sewer system below. A sanitation engineer on site described the work as “routine maintenance” but could not provide a timeline for completion.
The park sits above one of more than 20 deep shafts constructed across London as part of the £4.5 billion Thames Tideway Tunnel – a 25-kilometre super sewer designed to capture raw sewage and rainwater that would otherwise overflow into the Thames during heavy rain.
How the super sewer system works
The Putney site features vertical access points that allow maintenance crews to descend into the tunnel system for inspections and cleaning. During a visit last week, a crew was conducting what appeared to be standard maintenance, with one person being winched down while two colleagues monitored from above.
The engineer confirmed that working conditions in the sewer “can get pretty grim” but noted that the new system is significantly better than Victorian-era sewers, adding that the Hammersmith site is “far worse” by comparison.
The tunnel system was switched on in 2024 and is due to be fully operational this year, when it will prevent an estimated 95 percent of sewage spills from entering the Thames. The system has a combined capacity of 1.6 million cubic meters – equivalent to 640 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Impact on local area
The closure has displaced at least one homeless resident who had been living in a tent on the flat stone park area. He has now set up his tent on the adjacent pavement, a less than ideal solution but then no worse than not having any access to the park/stone platform.
The Putney Embankment park opened in September 2023 as the first of seven new riverside public spaces created along the Thames as part of the tunnel project. It features locally-inspired artworks including a bronze marker for the start line of the University Boat Race.
The Tideway website notes that “there may be times where we need to work outside of these hours if our work is affected by the tide times” and acknowledges they “may also need the occasional period when we need to close part or all the area while we undertake testing work for the sewer.”
What happens next
The scale of the current closure – encompassing the entire park rather than just the immediate area around the access shaft – suggests more extensive work than simple routine maintenance, though Tideway has not confirmed this.
Residents hoping to use the riverside space will need to wait for official confirmation of when the area will reopen. The closure raises questions about how frequently such maintenance work will be required and whether the park’s dual purpose as both public space and sewer infrastructure access point will lead to recurring disruptions.
