The Falkirk Wheel is a rotating boat lift connecting two canals near Falkirk, Scotland designed by Tony Kettle of RMJM architects. It is the world’s only rotating boat lift, used to connect the Forth & Clyde and Union canals, operated by British Waterways. The wheel is 35m high.

The Wheel is located at Bonnybridge close to Falkirk and forms the focus for the £84.5m Millennium Link project reconnecting the Forth & Clyde and Union canals between Glasgow and Edinburgh and coast-to-coast across Scotland.
Adjacent to the Falkirk Wheel is a £4m visitor center also designed by RMJM. The £17m project includes additional canal plus canal basin, two aqueducts, three locks, a railway bridge and a tunnel.

The Falkirk Wheel was opened in May 2002.

The following information is from the Falkirk Wheel website:

‘The Millennium Link was an ambitious £84.5m project with the objective of restoring navigability across Scotland on the historic Forth & Clyde Canal and Union Canal, providing a corridor of regenerative activity through central Scotland.

A major challenge faced, was to link the Forth and Clyde Canal, which lay 35m (115ft) below the level of the Union Canal. Historically, the two canals had been joined at Falkirk by a flight of 11 locks that stepped down across a distance of 1.5km, but these has been dismantled in 1933, breaking the link.

What was required was a method of connecting these two canals by way of a boat lift. British Waterways were keen to present a visionary solution taking full advantage of the opportunity to create a truly spectacular and fitting structure that would suitably commemorate the Millennium and act as an iconic symbol for years to come.

The resultant, perfectly balanced structure that is The Falkirk Wheel– the world’s first and only rotating boat lift– was the eventual outcome of British Waterways collaboration with a design team that combined international experience of joint venture contractor Morrison-Bachy-Soletanche with leading specialists from Ove Arup Consultants, Butterley Engineering and Scotland-based RMJM architects.

Completion of The Millennium Link project was officially marked by Her Majesty The Queen on 24 May 2002 at The Falkirk Wheel.

The original concept of a wheel to act as a boat lift actually dates back to 19th Century Europe, but it was first seriously considered by British Waterways as a solution for Falkirk in 1994. Dundee Architects, Nicoll Russell Studios presented a Ferris Wheel type design that was used to secure Millennium Commission Funding for the Project. This outline design was then reappraised to create a functional lift that could raise and lower boats swiftly whilst celebrating the reconnection of the two historic canals with a structure worthy of a new millennium.’

The extension to the Falkirk Wheel visitor center completed by RMJM Glasgow in 2003.

Scottish Design Awards PR 2003 Category 38: Most Original Piece of Work

For further information visit the project’s website.