Pudding Mill Pumping Station, London

Sustainable infrastructure meets public art

A bold, circular pumping station designed for London 2012, where form follows function and engineering heritage inspires civic beauty.

Commissioned at the outset of preparations for the London 2012 Olympics, the Pudding Mill Pumping Station was designed to connect the new sewer system of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park with the historic Northern Outfall Sewer - a vast Victorian conduit known locally as The Greenway.

LBY Architects, working for Thames Water, took this essential infrastructure brief and turned it into an opportunity to celebrate engineering, heritage, and the public realm.

A Close-up of a Pudding Millm Pumping Station's exterior grey pre-cast concrete panels engraved with enlarged versions of Sir Joseph Bazalgette’s Victorian engineering drawings on the wall, featuring mechanical and structural details.

Material that makes a mark

More than 70% of the external envelope is made from bespoke, pigmented pre-cast concrete – combining performance, sustainability, and visual storytelling.

Form Follows Function

The station’s distinctive circular form is derived directly from its engineering requirements: a deep, below-ground concrete caisson housing wet and dry wells forms the base, with the superstructure above containing operational equipment, odour control tanks, and an electrical substation.

The architecture embraces this functional core, creating a powerful, sculptural profile that emerges cleanly from the landscape.

  • The two tall cylindrical odour control tanks – affectionately nicknamed “Pinky and Perky” during construction, are finished in bold pink, offering an unexpected pop of colour and identity

  • The facility’s perimeter is wrapped in 6-metre-high pre-cast concrete panels, some of which are engraved with enlarged versions of Sir Joseph Bazalgette’s Victorian engineering drawings, connecting the site’s future-focused purpose with London’s historic infrastructure legacy

  • The circular ring-shaped building has a green roof and attractive tall flue surmounted by a blue-lit light box, making it a landmark and nicely visible by travellers on the trains to the East of England.

The Architects Journal noted how ‘At Pudding Mill Lane, Lyall Bills & Young saved time and money by proposing a superstructure aligned with the cylindrical substructure. This alignment was integral to a convincing architectural concept and won the confidence of the practice's client, the ODA, and operator Thames Water…’

A Landmark That Glows

The station’s most visible feature is its glowing blue lantern, a glass-box light beacon that caps the ventilation tower. Serving both practical and symbolic roles, the lantern provides a wayfinding element visible across the Olympic Park and has become a quiet icon of the area’s transformation.

Celebrated Design, Lasting Impact

The project stands as a rare example of civil infrastructure designed with architectural intent. Delivered under the design-conscious Olympic Delivery Authority and an engaged Thames Water team, it reflects a collaborative commitment to quality in the public realm. It has even become a key reference project for future infrastructure work and as such has featured in a publication by the National Infrastructure Commission promoting the value of good design.

Cityscape at dusk showing industrial structures of the Pudding Mill Pumping Station, with large pink storage tanks illuminated, and it's modern tower glowing blue lantern at the top.
Architectural blueprint of the Pudding Mill Pumping Station building with a circular central area, adjacent outdoor space, and street labels for Marshgate Lane and Pudding Mill Lane.
Exploded 3D-render of the Pudding Mill Pumping Station with labeled components, including a vent stack, roof, perimeter walls, concrete shaft core, controls and transformers, well capping, concrete collar, and a shaft with pre-cast concrete rings.
A arial view of the Pudding Mill Pumping Station construction site with large circular manhole being assembled, yellow machinery, construction workers, and cranes in the background.
A close up of the construction site showing the curved-etched concrete wall panels being built – with scaffolding, construction workers, and heavy equipment on site with a railway bridge and city buildings in the background.
  • Construction workers are operating a crane to lift a concrete panel onto a building at a construction site, with workers wearing safety vests and helmets, surrounded by scaffolding, fencing, and construction equipment.
  • A construction crane lifting materials inside a circular concrete structure with a tall building in the background.
  • Construction workers building a concrete wall and steel framework on a bright day with blue sky and clouds.
  • Construction site with a circular concrete structure in progress, surrounded by safety barriers and construction equipment under a cloudy sky.
  • Urban scene with a round concrete building, pedestrians walking on the sidewalk, a person jogging in the foreground, overcast sky, construction cranes in the background.
A birds-eye view of the Pudding Mill Pumping Station completed site with it's green-living circular roof, surrounded by a security fence, located in an urban area near roads and a few parked vehicles.
A artistic close-up of a Pudding Mill Pumping Station building facade – featuring some a textured metal see-through panel with warm lighting illuminating the concrete panel elements showing off the external engineering drawings clearly.
One of the large concrete wall panels that make up the main exterior of the Pudding Mill Pumping Station being lifted into place by a crane, with two workers guiding it on a construction site.
The Pudding Mill Pumping Station main building with cylindrical pink structures, a curved roof, and a tall blue-illuminated vertical tower top light shown at dusk on a dark blue clear sky.

Quote…

“Pudding Mill Lane sewage pumping station embraces its function and adds architectural refinement.”

Felix Mara, Architects Journal

Night view The Pudding Mill Pumping Station with a closeup angle showing the tall tower illuminated with blue light in the centre of the image, with the curved exterior concrete panels filling the right foreground and the rest the night sky.

The details

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Client: Thames Water
Location: Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London
Completion: 2011
Building Type: Infrastructure – Foul Pumping Station
Contractor: Barhale & Hutton Construction
Value: Confidential

Photographs: Olympic Delivery Authority + LBY Architects

APPROACH & INFLUENCE

Project Type: Civic infrastructure / Olympic legacy

Design Approach: Function-led form, public art integration, heritage referencing


AWARDS & RECOGNITION

CEEQUAL Winner: Outstanding Achievement Awards 2010

Civic Trust Award 2012

New London Architecture Award 2011

PRESS COVERAGE

Blueprint Magazine 2009

Architects Journal: Footprint 2013

Architects Journal 2010

Building Magazine 2011

Concrete Quarterly 2012

RIBA Journal 2011

Water and Wastewater Treatment 2010

Infrastructure – The Value of Good Design 2018
(National Infrastructure Commission)

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