Filing in the Thames

From : Roger Miles

Subject : Filling in the Thames

Date : 21 April 2010

To : mayor@london.gov.uk

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Dear Mr Mayor,

I am an art student at Chelsea School of Art and Design – my current project in on ‘rivers’ and I have been developing an idea that may be of some interest to you.

Traditionally, the Thames has been the lifeblood of the City of London – today, however, it is hardly used for trade, transport or agriculture – in fact it threatens the City through increased sea levels and creates a barrier to efficient transport .

What could we do with the land that it occupies were we to ’fill it in’?

Some immediate benefits would be to                                                                                                             

• Remove the threat of flooding
• Solve the Heathrow dispute by building a state of the art airport near the head of the Thames Estuary
• Improve cross London transport further through a new monorail system
• Create an amazing new tourism industry based around fantastical developments from the Thames Estuary all the way to Richmond

My initial thoughts on what shape this new tourism destination would look like are

• Build six of the seven ancient wonders of the world i.e. The Lighthouse of Alexandria, The Temple of Artemis, The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia and The Colossus of Rhodes – these are lost to history but could be rebuilt – the one remaining wonder that still exists, the Pyramids of Giza would not be rebuilt but there could be some link to the original using new technology
• Rebuild the Lost City of Atlantis and the Tower of Babel
• Create massive lakes – each could have a single purpose and be located at intervals along the route of the Thames , perhaps including

·       A great coral reef

·       A frozen lake for skating and ice fishing

·       The world’s largest underwater art gallery

·       The new Titanic Lake

·       The London waterfalls

·       Flood the town of Slough to create a new reservoir for London – killing two birds with one stone

·       A great lake for the great ships of the past ie the Victory , The Mary Rose and the Mayflower.

·       A witch dunking lake next to Parliament to keep MP’s and Lords honest

Upstream, the river would be diverted to create hydro electric power and for agricultural purposes. The remainder of the project in London could focus on new Royal Parks, real quality social housing and a competition to design new wonders of the modern world – such as a new space station for day trips to the moon.

So imagine turning London from one of the great cities to visit into the greatest city – imagine a day trip that included a visit to The Pharos of Alexandria, a snorkel around the Great London coral reef, visiting the Temple of Artemis in the afternoon and finishing off the day with an evening trip to the moon.

By the way I really like the look of the ArcelorMittal Orbit – in fact it’s not far from a modern Colossus of Rhodes.

I look forward to hearing you thoughts on this proposal

Regards

Roger Miles

0208 876 3866