Blenheim Palace dredging work resumes after winter break

Civil engineering contractor Land & Water is back in Oxford for the restart of the Queen Pool dredging project at Blenheim Palace.

“Our monumental lake dredge at UNESCO World Heritage Site Blenheim Palace has restarted after pausing for winter,” Land & Water said in the update.

The decision to shut down the Queen Pool operations was made in an effort to reduce the downtime and inefficiency of working during the winter months and minimise damage to the park.

The dredging, which is believed to be one of the largest civil engineering projects ever undertaken at a UK heritage site, will return the lake to its original depth of two metres from its current shallows of 30cm.

In total, the project will remove around 300,000 cubic metres of silt from the ‘Capability’ Brown designed lake – enough to fill Wembley Stadium.