Start of construction at Ocean Drive (Rennie's Isle to Tower Place)

Site set up is expected to begin on the weekend of 26 & 27 February 2022 with traffic management arrangements in place from the day of site establishments. Construction works are scheduled to be completed by Autumn 2022.

Ahead of the new phase, enabling works are required on the south footway between Tower Place & Victoria Swing Bridge which will involve the removal of the boundary walls surrounding the Queen’s Quay Developments.

The removal of these walls is required to accommodate the construction of the new tram route as well as create walkways / localised access to the development throughout the main phasing of works.  These enabling works will commence from Tuesday 22 February 2022 and are expected to take up to 1 week. Localised access to properties will be maintained, however there will be no pedestrian through route to the east and west for the public. A pedestrian diversion will be in place via Tower Place / Victoria Swing Bridge.

View the pedestrian diversion:

Upon completion of these enabling works the main phase of traffic management will be installed. As part of this site establishment Tower Bridge will be closed to pedestrians to allow modifications to the existing structure. These works are scheduled to be completed in Autumn 2022. A pedestrian diversion route will be maintained via the Victoria Swing Bridge..

View the traffic management plans.

Construction Works

Following site set up, Sacyr, Farrans, Neopul (SFN), and Morrison Utility Services (MUS) roles will involve excavation of the road, utility diversions, ducting and drainage, tracklaying, overhead line poles/equipment install, public realm including heritage and archaeology works. Some work will be required on the Tower Bridge where modifications are required to the existing structure to accommodate the tram infrastructure.

Construction site working hours are Monday to Friday 7am to 7pm and Saturday 8am to 1pm. There may be times when out of hours’ works are required. Notifications of these works and any changes to arrangements including pedestrian set up will be provided via the project website and Twitter account @TramstoNewhaven. 

Traffic Management

Traffic management arrangements have been approved jointly with members of the city's Traffic Management Review Panel, including Lothian Buses and the emergency services. Diversion routes and advanced warning signage will be erected in the vicinity and detailed drawings will be available shortly on the project website in the Construction section.

Parking and loading on Ocean Drive will be suspended throughout the duration of the works. View the full construction programme here.

Please note that the traffic plans detail that access will be provided to the Cala Development and the entrance to Rennie’s Isle from the west via Ocean Terminal on Ocean Drive. Vehicle access route to the Ocean Drive area (Tower Place, Forth Ports, Stevedore Place, Constitution Place, Tower Street Industrial Estate) will be via Commercial Street / Bernard Street, and onto Constitution Street.

The project will assess the traffic management arrangement throughout the construction period and make amends if required.

Contact Us

If you have any concerns or further questions regarding these works then please contact the Trams to Newhaven project team by email on Newhaven.tram@edinburgh.gov.uk or alternatively contact our customer helpline on 0131 322 1122 (local rate Monday to Sunday 8am to 7pm).