Full circle for UK canals: restoring the South Pennine Ring

Britain's emergence as the world's leading industrial power in the nineteenth century was highly dependent on its extensive new canal network created by the founders of the UK civil engineering profession. Reopening the network—much of which has been closed for over half a century—is now seen as a valuable catalyst to regenerating Britain's former industrial cities. However, the task presents today's civil engineers with almost as many challenges as the original construction. The £58 million project to reopen the final sections of the trans- Pennine Rochdale and Huddersfield Canals—and thus restore the South Pennine Ring waterway—is a classic example of the flexible and innovative approaches needed to thread new life into today's decayed and congested urban environments.