This article is about the dock in London, for other uses see Albert Dock (disambiguation)

The Royal Albert Dock is one of three docks in the Royal Group of Docks

Royal Docks

The Royal Docks comprise three docks in east London - the Royal Albert Dock, the Royal Victoria Dock and the King George V Dock. They are more correctly called the Royal Group of Docks to distinguish them from the Royal Dockyards, Royal being due to their naming after royal personages rather than...

 of east London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, now part of the redeveloped Docklands.

History

The dock was constructed to the east of the earlier Victoria Dock

Royal Victoria Dock

The Royal Victoria Dock is the largest of three docks in the Royal Docks of east London, now part of the redeveloped Docklands.-History:...

 by the St Katharine

St Katharine Docks

St Katharine Docks, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, were one of the commercial docks serving London, on the north side of the river Thames just east of the Tower of London and Tower Bridge...

 and London

London Docks

The London Docks were one of several sets of docks in the historic Port of London. They were constructed in Wapping downstream from the City of London between 1799 and 1815, at a cost exceeding £5½ million. Traditionally ships had docked at wharves on the River Thames, but by this time, more...

 dock companies and opened in 1880. It was even larger than the Victoria, with over 3 miles of quay, and an entrance to the Thames far down river at Gallions Reach. To the south at the western end were two dry docks and machine shops used for ship repairs by R & H Green & Silley Weir (later River Thames Shiprepairs Ltd

British Shipbuilders

British Shipbuilders Corporation was a public corporation that owned and managed the shipbuilding industry in England and Scotland from 1977 and through the 1980s...

).

The dock closed to commercial traffic along with the other Royal Docks in the 1980s. The dock itself still exists and is now used chiefly for watersports and as a rowing course, although it is occasionally transited by ships on their way to the Royal Victoria Dock

Royal Victoria Dock

The Royal Victoria Dock is the largest of three docks in the Royal Docks of east London, now part of the redeveloped Docklands.-History:...

 and exhibitions at the ExCeL Exhibition Centre

ExCeL Exhibition Centre

ExCeL London is an exhibitions and conference centre in the London Borough of Newham, England. It is located on a site on the northern quay of the Royal Victoria Dock in London Docklands, between Canary Wharf and London City Airport.- History :The centre was built by Sir Robert McAlpine, opened...

.

Today

The major feature of the dock today is London City Airport

London City Airport

London City Airport is a single-runway airport. It principally serves the financial district of London and is located on a former Docklands site, east of the City of London, opposite the London Regatta Centre, in the London Borough of Newham in east London. It was developed by the engineering...

, whose single runway has been constructed the length of the south side of the dock, with the dock forming the northern boundary of the airport. The filled dry docks and ship repair works site lie under the runway. Aircraft movements are clearly visible across the dock from the largely accessible north quayside.

Transport links on the north side of the dock have been greatly improved with new roads and the Docklands Light Railway

Docklands Light Railway

The Docklands Light Railway is an automated light metro or light rail system opened on 31 August 1987 to serve the redeveloped Docklands area of London...

 Beckton line running the length of the dock. From the dock's western end there is London Regatta Centre, with the Yi-Ban Chinese restaurant on top of the building. It is followed by a boathouse which is used by many rowers from different clubs. After this comes the Building 1000 office development (Royals Business Park), which until July 2007 had stood vacant for three years since completion apart from being used for several film shoots. Building 1000 is now owned by London Borough of Newham

London Borough of Newham

The London Borough of Newham is a London borough formed from the towns of West Ham and East Ham, within East London.It is situated east of the City of London, and is north of the River Thames. According to 2006 estimates, Newham has one of the highest ethnic minority populations of all the...

 who will be relocating 2,500 of its staff to the building from April 2008. A large parcel of undeveloped land, used for overflow car parking from the Excel exhibition centre and interrupting pedestrian access to the dock edge follows, which surprisingly contains a short aircraft runway used for the 2007 and 2008 Red Bull Air Race in London. At the eastern end of the north quayside is the University of East London Docklands Campus

University of East London Docklands Campus

The University of East London Docklands Campus is a campus of the University of East London situated in the Docklands area of east London. The campus opened in 1999...

, opened in 1999, and which will provide the United States Olympic Team with their training base during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Adjacent to the campus is the London Regatta Centre

London Regatta Centre

The London Regatta Centre, a state-of-the-art rowing centre, is located in the heart of the Docklands area in the East End of London. It is built at the west end on the north of the historic Royal Albert Dock directly opposite London City Airport...

, an international class rowing centre from where Queen Mary, University of London Boat Club

Queen Mary, University of London Boat Club

Queen Mary, University of London Boat Club is the rowing club of Queen Mary, University of London. The club was founded in 1910. Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, although a part of QMUL, have their own boat club: St Bartholomew's and the London Hospitals' Boat Club...

 row.

Royal Albert Dock is the home of Typhoon DBC, Thames Dragons, Raging Dragons dragon boat racing clubs and Royal Docks Rowing Club, which is made up of mainly under-18s.

See also

• Albert Dock Seamen's Hospital
  Albert Dock Seamen's Hospital
  The Albert Dock Seamen's Hospital was a hospital provided by the Seamen's Hospital Society for the care of ex-members of the Merchant navy, the fishing fleets and their dependents....
  
   - initial site for the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
  London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
  The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is a constituent college of the federal University of London, specialising in public health and tropical medicine...
  
   and the Hospital for Tropical Disease, situated as they were close to the disembarkation point from the British Empire.