Thames Water beats council in bid to demolish century-old building

A century-old building at Thames Water’s water works in Eton is faced with demolition after the company won out in a planning dispute with a council.

The pumping station at Tangier Island Water Works off Tangier Lane was built around 1870 and is a protected site containing two ‘unique’ Fourneyron turbines.

Benoît Fourneyron was a 19th century French inventor who designed the Fourneyron water turbine – which transformed the way water could be used to help generate power. 

Thames Water applied to the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead for permission to demolish a later addition to the Eton site – a generator building built between 1917 and 1923.  

It said demolition was needed as the generator house was in a ‘poor condition’; had ‘little significance in itself’; and would provide additional working space at a ‘constrained site’.

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead refused permission for the demolition in December 2023.

The council's head of planning Adrien Waite said Thames Water's plan would cause ‘permanent loss of a historic building’ that was ‘not outweighed by the public benefits’.

“The proposed works would result in harm due to the permanent loss of a historic building with no proposal for further development,” Mr Waite wrote in a decision notice.

“Whilst it is considered to be curtilage listed, the building forms part of the development of the use of the site, contributing to its historic understanding and the significance of the principal buildings.”

A curtilage listing building is not specifically listed itself, but is considered listed as part of a larger area – in this case the Tangier Island Water Works.

The entrance to Thames Water's Tangier Island Water Works

Mr Waite continued: “Therefore, the loss of the building would result in less than substantial harm.

"The public benefits would not outweigh this harm."

Thames Water, however, appealed the council’s ruling to the Planning Inspector – a government organisation that rules on planning appeals.

The company argued keeping the building had no ‘tangible public benefits’ and that demolition would allow a ‘more efficient use of land and bill payers’ money.’

In a decision notice on the appeal, the planning inspector gave the green light to Thames Waters’ plan.

The inspector said: “The pump houses have historic significance given the pumps within them are believed to be a unique installation.”

But the inspector considered the site’s ‘dilapidated’ generator building ‘jarred’ with the older architecture of the wider pumping station.

While there had been a ‘lack of maintenance on the building in recent times,’ the inspector said, a risk of its roof collapsing was unlikely to have been caused by ‘deliberate neglect’.

Photographs submitted with Thames Water’s application showed the generator building's roof had collapsed in some sections.

“While later additions [of the pumping station] tell a story and add to the narrative of a building, some of this can be of very limited value,” the inspector concluded.

“Overall, I find that the proposal would result in the removal of a dilapidated and unsympathetic later addition, which would not harm the special interest of the listed building.”

The planning inspector’s decision added a condition that the demolition take place within three years.

The view from Windsor and Eton bridge. The Tangier Island Water Works are downstream to the left in the image.