World Canals Conference returns to Scotland

After more than a decade the World Canals Conference returned to Scotland at the end of September. The four-day event took place in Inverness and welcomed 300 delegates from more than 12 countries who descended on the city for the biggest in the international waterways calendar.

This year’s event also featured the inaugural World Canals Awards, with one category winner (The Pioneer Award) going to The Kelpies (pictures above), the world’s largest equine sculptures, which tower over a new section of the historic Forth & Clyde Canal and form the centrepieces of the £43m Helix project in Falkirk. More than two million visitors from all over the world have stood in the shadow of the sculptures since their unveiling in April 2014, bringing renewed vibrancy and income to the area and boosting the local economy by an estimated £1.5m per year.

Dozens of speakers, academics and experts at the pinnacle of their fields featured on the conference programme, including Roland Lewis, President and CEO of the New York Waterfront Alliance.