Teddington Launch Lock repairs

The Environment Agency is carrying out improvement works to refurbish and recondition the Teddington Launch Lock that will result in a reliable, operational lock, for decades to come.

In September 2025, our construction partner, Bam Nuttal, mobilised to site to begin the refurbishment works. Site compounds and facilities have been established at the lock site and Ham Street car park, and a summary of the project’s progress to date can be found below:

• Ground investigations undertaken and completed
• Lock gates removed from the lock chamber and transported to the workshop for refurbishment
• Propping installed in the lock chamber to support the lock walls during construction
• Temporary stop log barriers established, allowing the dewatering of the lock chamber
• Further scanning and investigations into the strength and structure of the lock walls

Please note, the Thames path at Teddington Lock and Ham Street car park will have minor diversions for short periods of time throughout the works and will be clearly marked on site. At all other times the Thames Path remains open as usual. Diversions will not impact Teddington Footbridge.

Use of the Teddington Barge Lock will continue throughout construction to maintain navigation. 

Current Progress – March 2026 update

We successfully dewatered the lock in February 2026 enabling us to inspect the structure and plan the necessary refurbishment works in detail.  As part of the dewatering activity, we worked with ecologists ‘FiveRivers’ who carried out electro-fishing to safely remove any fish from the works area. They relocated an estimated 5,000 fish from the lock, across 11 fish species. To safely remove the fish, they were placed into oxygenated holding tanks and then released back in the River Thames at a suitable location.

 Figure 1 – Photo showing dewatered lock and temporary propping

Figure 2 – Scaffolding in lock chamber allowing engineers access to the lock to complete construction work  

We have also completed inspections and carried out a 3D scan of the dewatered lock chamber. All the data collected to date indicates that additional strengthening of the lock chamber and walls are required.  This additional work is essential to avoid potential structural failures and risks to public safety and will unfortunately add time to the construction programme.[NW1] 

The project team are working hard to reduce this delay and are still aiming for the lock to be open towards the end of the boating season. Use of the Teddington Barge Lock will continue throughout construction to maintain navigation.

Next Steps

The next steps focus on the installation of the structural improvements to the lock chamber and reconstruction of the lock control elements prior to installing the refurbished lock gates.

We are continuing to work closely with Richmond and Wandsworth Councils to give advanced warning of any diversions and to limit the inconvenience to our customers.  

Contact us

If you see damage at this site or any other of our assets, please call our 24-hour Incident Hotline on 0800 80 70 60. More information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/report-environmental-problem(External link)(External link)

Please email enquiries_thm@environment-agency.gov.uk(External link)(External link) if you have any further queries, however please note that the most up to date information is on this page.

You can also phone our National Customer Contact Centre on 03708 506 506 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm).