• First a stainless steel trough was fitted around the dock at water level, while another at the same level was fitted around the ship’s hull. Stainless steel joists connect the two.
• The troughs are covered in armour-plated double-glazed units.
• Water is pumped from the River Avon, passing through filters, to one end of the dock where it spills over the trough, travelling across the glass plates.
• Visitors can walk under the impressive ‘glass sea’, which is covered in an insulating layer of water, which seals the ship into her dry dock and forms a de-humidification chamber.
• The water is then pumped back to the filter plant, chlorinated and additionally treated and recycled.
• The vessel and its below-waterline exhibition inside is fully air conditioned to help preserve the original iron construction.
• If the temperature of the water passing over the glass plates rises above a set level, the water treatment plant automatically dumps return water back into the River Avon and draws fresh cool water from the river a point upstream. This is then filtered and passed over the plate as normal until the temperature returns to the required level and then the water is recycled.
• Separate to this, a volume of water is required for the air-handling units, which are maintained at a pre-set flow and pressure at all times.
• This complex arrangement is achieved through the use of flowmeters, automated valves and sophisticated PLC controllers designed and installed by Filtration Ltd.

Says Director of the ss Great Britain Trust, Matthew Tanner:

“The glass sea and dehumidification system will stop the iron corrosion which was threatening the very existence of Brunel’s ss Great Britain. This marks another first of maritime conservation and reflects the innovative spirit which originally shaped the ship’s design and build."

In a further interview he continued “The dry dock holds the secret to the ss Great Britain’s future conservation. The ss Great Britain will now be one of the most important and exciting historic ships to visit in the world.”