The rerouted River Lea running around the site of our new stadium at Power Court is now officially open!

More than 300 metres of concrete tunnel have been installed to redirect the previously culverted river around the edge of the site, rather than through the middle of what will eventually be our new pitch.

On Thursday, the original route, which serviced the huge cooling towers back in Power Court’s life as a power station up to 1969, was blocked off and the sandbags lifted to release the flow of water into its new channel.

This brand-new section will eventually present a riverside leisure area for supporters and local residents to enjoy on matchdays and throughout the week, when the stadium opens in 2028.

2020 Developments Chief Operating Officer Michael Moran, pictured below, told BBC Three Counties Radio: “We’ve effectively stopped the old river, and water is now flowing around the new channel around the edge of the site.

“Many years of planning and work with the Environment Agency have gone in to get to this point. We’ve done a tonne of ground investigations, all these engineering works, and now the water is flowing down this new route.

“The site has got a huge industrial past, so the work to date has been the hard yards in the ground, but it’s nice to have something like this today where you can see a nicer touch to it with the new river route opened up.

“The river was one of the key impediments, but the other is a big UK Power Network sub-station, and by diverting the river we can then remove the shell of the sub-station, and that happens next week.

“Cables have gone and it’s all ready to go, then we’ve got a flat site to start piling later this year.”

You can listen to Michael’s full interview on BBC 3CR by clicking HERE and scrolling to 1:19:30.