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Go down to the barrage on a sunny day and it makes you wonder why so few of us use it. Look at the access road and you remember why. It’s hidden away in among a whole load of nothing and the white-water course can only run when the tides are right.

But that’s all set to change. First of all, the barrage could find itself right in the middle of Teesside’s new centre, if the plans to link Middlesbrough and Stockton with the Green Blue Heart become a reality. If the Green Blue Heart sounds like an art house band to you, then take a look at the section of the same name on our regeneration page.

As for the white-water course, plans are being made to turn that into a world class, 24 hour facility, designed by Archimedes of Syracuse (287 - 212BC).

Yes, Archimedes is long dead, but his design for the Archimedes Screw has stood the test of time. Effectively, it’s a giant screw inside a tube. Put the tube in the water, turn the screw and it pulls the water to the top.

The Tees Barrage

They’re planning to put three of these in the Tees, so the white-water course can run 24 hours a day, if need be. And that could mean big thing; even, though they say it with a great deal of trepidation, Olympic teams training here.

The word Olympics makes the team at the barrage nervous, because they don’t want to make something for the Olympics that stops being any use afterwards. They insist they’re going to build us something that WE’LL want to use.

But Archimedes’ design has another trick up its sleeve. Run it backwards when the course is off and it’ll generate you electricity. In fact, to make the course viable, they’re planning to make the barrage into a renewable energy centre and reckon it’ll generate enough to get the bill for the course down to £00.00.

In fact, did you know the barrage is the European centre for tidal power testing? There’s more to come on that, as well.