Friday 12 November 2021

‘This is the world’s most environmental boatlift’

The Falkirk Wheel “works on the power of six kettles, it costs 50p to turn 1,800 of steel and water and lift boats into the sky, so that they can travel safely between Glasgow and Edinburgh,” explained Richard Millar, Chief Operating Officer at Scottish Canals.

“It has been an exemplar of what can be done. It shows that you can move things, you can create attractions do it really environmentally efficiently. This is the world’s most environmental boatlift.

“We’ve also worked on transforming these canals and getting people out there. The health benefits, the carbon reduction – but also regeneration, creating communities about forgotten assets.

“These were about to be abandoned and lost – £2.5 million to rebuild these canals, it’s a massive asset and there’s plenty more like that. There’s loads of infrastructure that people have built out there over the years that we’ve forgotten about.”

“How can we reuse these things; how can we repurpose them and how can we make sure that they are here for the next 200 years?”

Watch the full interview to learn more.