Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering Ltd

Cardiff Canoe Slalom

Client: Cardiff Harbour Authority / City and County of Cardiff

Value: £13.3 million

The white water canoe slalom, part of the Cardiff International Sports Village is the first of its kind in the UK. The project was the design and construction of an Olympic-standard canoe slalom and white water rafting centre built on an area of remediated land in Cardiff International Sports Village.

In terms of its construction, water for the course has been impounded from the River Ely by driving a 250 linear metre combination piled wall, using up to 25 metre long sheet and tubular piles.

Water is pumped from the impounded area via a reinforced concrete pumping station, constructed in a temporary cofferdam in the river, thus generating the required head for the water to flow into the pre-cast, piled reinforced concrete conveyor channel and reinforced concrete starting pool, before continuing its flow down the 14 metre wide reinforced concrete slalom course trough. Water flows down the 254 metre long articulated jointed channel at a gradient of 1:5 before discharging back into the impounded area.

The canoeists emerge at the bottom of the main channel in the retained water pool (RWP) ready to paddle onto a conveyor belt which will lift them and their boats back up to the top.  The RWP end of the course has been formed within the River Ely in a sheet piled wall next to the bank.

The course is 254 metres long, 12.5 metres wide and falls 4.5 metres over its full length. Four pumps propel water up to the start of the course at the rate of up to 16 cubic metres per second.

The variable speed pumps can be adjusted as necessary to adjust the flow to suit any skill levels. Several pro canoeists and the GB slalom team have visited the venue and were impressed by the standard of the facility.

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