Morelands | 411
Location
London
Type
Commercial
Year
2016-2017
Client
Blackbottle Ltd
The early 19th century London cholera epidemics resulted in the creation of The Hampton Water Works. In 1852, Joseph Quick, an engineer who specialised in water supply realised that extracting the water from the Thames up river from the Teddington and Molsley locks meant the water would be protected from the polluted tidal back-wash of the capital river. A series of filter beds along with three original pumping stations for three different water companies were created on the edge of River Thames in Hampton. Water was pumped to London reservoirs by steam-powered engines through large brick culverts and later cast iron pipes.
During the late part of the 19th century, the Southwark & Vauxhall Water Co. initiated the construction of the current Morelands and Riverdale buildings in response to increasing demand for clean water. The first rotative pumping engines were constructed by Morelands & Son in 1886 and installed in the MRL Engine House. All the pumping engines were running on steam from the 24/7 labour intensive coal firing which by the early 20th century was replaced with diesel. However, the old engines in the MRL EH were disassembled and the building became superfluous. By 1950, the pumping operations ceased the building became redundant. In 1973 the buildings passed from the Metropolitan Water Board to the Thames Valley Water Authority, later becoming Thames Water Utilities Ltd. Under the stewardship of the large utility providers, there was little pressure to develop the vast buildings and they remained largely unaltered since removal of the engines, bar a few small offices formed within the buildings. The Morelands Engine House was listed (grade II) in 1968 and listed status was later extended to all the original buildings of the Hampton Waterworks to protect them. The buried Victorian pipe systems running throughout the site remain active to this day and are subject to a continuous programme of repair.
In 2012 Thames Water sold the Morelands & Riverdale buildings to Mr Andrew Black. Thames Water still own and operate all the filter beds and the other original pump houses at the Hampton waterworks, west of this site. The brief was to restore the historic fabric externally, and redesign the interiors for use as a biotechnology research facility.
Drawings
