The original Oxford University Boat Club boathouse on the banks of the Isis (generally known as 'the OUBC') was destroyed by fire in 1999. In 2002 Tuke Manton won a limited design competition for a new university boathouse to be built on a spectacular riverside site in Wallingford. The building provides a home for the main university rowing squads, male and female, heavyweight and lighweight, secure storage for their boats and equipment, and space for relaxation and entertaining. It includes a 'wet' boathouse for the University's traditional 16m timber launch, Bosporos, and for the three catamarans used for daily coaching. Being on a functional flood plain, the design of the building had to have zero effect on the flow of floodwater across the site, and on the ability of the site to contain floodwater. This was achieved by a combination of permanent and protected openings (the latter under the control of the boathouse manager, working to a strict flood alert protocol) and by raising part of the building on stilts. Designed to allow for the 100-year flood event plus 20% allowance for global warming, the solution was approved by the Environment Agency; the site is also now capable of holding more flood water storage than before. The building comprises two boathouses ('dry' and 'wet') set at an angle to one another, linked by a raised curved building containing the main entrance lobby. Crew facilities and a manager's flat are placed at first floor level over all three buildings. The design takes full advantage of its spectacular site, with a continuous balcony running the full length of the river elevation, and large windows to the major club rooms overlooking the water. The Thames Path National trail runs along the river edge of the site, where a previously existing inlet has been extended to bring the river into the wet boathouse. To carry the Thames Path across this water, a new swing bridge is provided, designed jointly by the architect and the structural engineer.