GUCT Canalside Design Principles
Design principles for canalside infrastructure, part of the Grand Union Canal Transfer (GUCT) project, a vital scheme bringing water from the Midlands to the Southeast.
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The GUCT project is a vital scheme which will bring water from the Midlands to the Southeast, utilising the Grand Union Canal and involving a collaboration between Affinity Water, Severn Water and the Canal & River Trust.
Our work sets out clear design principles for the canalside water transfer infrastructure buildings and structures that will be required to deliver the project. It moves from a rigorous character study of the vast project area, to a series of Design Principles and then a set of scenarios for how these principles might be delivered upon. The principles aim to balance heritage & cultural, community, and environmental value across the sites and interventions.
The canal corridor of the project is well over 100 miles long, and is the product of multiple companies, designers and eras of design. We therefore began with a rigorous, heritage-led character analysis and significance assessment across this territory, focussed upon key interchanges. This study benefitted not only from intensive site visits across the project area but also deep-dive research at the National Waterways Archive at the National Waterways Museum Ellesmere Port. This character study provides design, heritage and environmental cues and constraints to inform future interventions delivered by the project.
Credits
- Client: Grand Union Canal Transfer Project (Canal & River Trust, Affinity Water, Severn Trent Water)
- Dates: 2025
- Status: Published for consultation 2026
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