 In 1880 the Council bought the Slipway and yard to enlarge the docks' maintenance facilities.The 'Underfall' system was re-built in the 1880s, with longer sluices, and the yard above was enlarged.Brunel's method of silt disposal is still in operation today, but the silt is carried in mud barges or pumped to the sluices through a quayside pipe system from the more efficient modern 'Cutter-Suction' dredgers.