A 160-year-old, Grade II listed building at a super sewer site in south-east London has had its roof refurbished.

Greenwich Pumping Station, originally known as Deptford Pumping Station, was designed by Sir Joseph Bazalgette, chief engineer at the Metropolitan Board of Works, and completed in 1864.

The site formed part of Bazalgette’s scheme to dramatically improve the health of the River Thames and its inhabitants.

The site now connects to the Thames Tideway Tunnel network at Chambers Wharf, via a 4.5km connection tunnel, providing additional sewer capacity in south-east London.

It will help tackle the problem of sewage overflow into the River Thames in the Greenwich area. 

The team at Greenwich Pumping Station have been refurbishing the main area of the site, including the historic East Beam Engine House, and have recently finished refurbishing the roof.

The East Beam Engine house isn’t the only historic asset at the site, which is also home to multiple Grade II listed heritage assets – the West Beam Engine House, four coal sheds and the Network Rail Viaduct. With these refurbishments, Tideway can continue to celebrate the Engine House’s historical and architectural significance in the years to come. 

The first architecture and landscape activities taking place at Greenwich Pumping Station have already begun, with the reinstatement of a brick wall along Norman Road, in front of Belleville House, with more developments in the pipeline.

Greenwich Pumping Station, showing the Engine House, taken in 1949