Monument record TR 34 SW 995 - Dover Hoverport, Dover Western Docks

Former site of the Dover Hoverport in the Western Docks. The port was open between 1978 and 2005 and consisted of the terminal building, apron and ramp. The Terminal building was located at the landward side of the Hoverport. It was a two storey brick built building in a typical 1970's style, the building has now been demolished. The apron was the platform for hovercraft to embark passengers and be routinely maintained, there being no hanger-like facility on site. It is formed of more than 225 rectangular concrete slabs covering an area of approximately 6250m square. These are laid down on reclaimed land composed mostly of sand from the Goodwin Sands built up on the chalk bedrock. The perimeter of the apron is formed to the north east by the Prince of Wales Pier and to the south -west by north pier. Its sides are formed using sheet piling down to bedrock. The apron has been repaired over the years, a full record of which is maintained by Dover Harbour board. The ramp structure is formed of smaller staggered concrete tiles and covers an area of approximately 2800m square. The sides of the ramp slope away at an angle of 45 degrees and form a buffer that was designed to limit damage to the hovercraft skirt. On top of the north east side of the ramp against the Prince of Wales Pier, the SeaCat jetty is a recent addition. This gantry extends out below the low water mark and is supported and reinforced at the ramp end by the seawall built if large boulders lying directly on the ramp and apron surface. (1)

The first cross-Channel hovercraft flight was made in 1959 by a prototype vessel designed by Charles Cockerell, crossing from Calais to Dover in two hours and three minutes. This new and futuristic form of transport captured the public imagination, and in 1968 the first Hoverport at Dover was opened in the Eastern Docks. Seaspeed, owned by British Rail, based their cross-Channel service at this new facility. There was one other major operator running hovercraft services from the south-east coast; Hoverlloyd, a Swedish company, based first in Ramsgate, and later at nearby Pegwell Bay.

The need for expanded freight and passenger services at Dover led in 1978 to the construction of the larger, dedicated, hoverport facility in the Western Docks. In 1981, Seaspeed and Hoverlloyd merged to become Hoverspeed, and in 1987 the buildings at the Pegwell Bay facility were demolished. Hoverspeed continued to offer a popular high speed service until the turn of the 21st Century. The abolition of duty-free shopping in 1999, the profits from which Hoverspeed relied on heavily, and the high maintenance costs of the ageing fleet, meant the hovercraft service was no longer economically viable and in autumn 2000 the crossings were curtailed. After running a service with alternative high speed craft, Hoverspeed ceased all operations in 2005.

The hoverport complex covers approximately 15,000 m2 and comprises the main terminal building, a number of smaller subsidiary buildings, a car park and a concrete apron which ramps down into the sea. The main building has a steel and concrete frame with red brick, concrete and glass elevations. It is roughly square in plan with a flat roof. The passenger entrance to the building from the car park faces to the north-west and comprises plate glass windows and doors on a brick plinth at ground floor level. The second floor, clad in concrete panels, overhangs the first and is supported by concrete pillars. The seaward elevation (to the south-east) comprises plate-glass windows set on a brick plinth with doors out on to the apron for passenger access to the hovercraft, with a band of solid brickwork above. To the centre-left of this elevation a control tower rises another two storeys above the main building, clad in concrete panels. To the north-east the building rises to three storeys with plain brick elevations. Internally the ground floor is largely open plan, accommodating check-in, immigration facilities, retail areas and the passenger departure lounge; the second floor provides office accommodation. The subsidiary buildings and structures on the site are generally of a similar style and palette of materials.

The apron, from which passengers embarked and disembarked the hovercraft, and on which routine maintenance of the craft was undertaken, is formed by a number of reinforced concrete slabs, probably cast in situ on reclaimed land composed mostly of sand from the Goodwin Sands built up on the chalk bedrock. The ramp from the apron down into the sea is constructed of interlocking pre-cast concrete slabs fitted in a staggered pattern.

The relatively short period over which the hovercraft was used as a form of mass transportation means associated facilities have always been few. The first hovercraft passenger service to be operational in Britain opened in 1962, North Wales. Landing on the beach, it had no major structures associated with it. The service between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight, which is still operational, has a concrete apron above the beach ramp but no associated structures contemporary with it. The only facility comparable in scale to that at the Western Docks was Pegwell Bay, of which only the car-park, apron and ramp now remain. The terminal at the Western Docks is unusual in that it was entirely purpose built, including the dedicated landing facility on reclaimed land, and is now the only remaining hoverport on this scale in the country, and as such is the last remaining vestige of the hovercraft's cross-Channel heyday in the 1970s. (1)

The Dover Hoverport Terminal was assessed for listing in 2009 but failed to meet the required criteria. (2)

Description of the hoverport and the impacts of the Dover Western Docks Revival Scheme upon it. (3-5)

Historic England archive material: BF099409 DOVER HARBOUR, HOVERSPEED, DOVER

<1> Maritime Archaeology, 2007, Dover Hoverport Terminal: Archaeological Desk Based Assessment (Unpublished document). SKE24841.

<2> English Heritage, 2009, Listing Decision Notices, Granville Dock, Hoverport, North Pier, South Pier and Dunkirk Jetty (Unpublished document). SKE32052.

<3> Royal Haskoning, 2016, Dover Western Docks Revival Scheme, Combined Design and Access and Heritage Statement (Unpublished document). SKE31744.

<4> Maritime Archaeology, 2008, Dover Terminal 2 -EIA: Historic environmental assessment report (Unpublished document). SKE29382.

<5> Maritime Archaeology, 2008, Dover Hoverport Terminal Historic Environment Assessment Report (Unpublished document). SKE32024.