Water and Effluent Treatment Magazine
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/1043438
26 ALLIANCES 2019 Bazalgette Tunnel Limited – known in the industry as Tideway – was set up as a licensed infrastructure provider specifically to finance, build, maintain and operate the 25km-long Thames Tideway Tunnel. The organisation is owned by a consortium of investors: Allianz, Amber Infrastructure, Dalmore Capital and DIF. This means more than 2 million UK pensioners ultimately have a stake in the super sewer project. In the end, Thames Water's wastewater customers will pay for the scheme through their annual bills, which already include £13 for this purpose. The tunnel is designed to cut out millions of tonnes of sewage spills into the River Thames each year from the current Victorian infrastruc- ture. More than 400 people are employed directly by Tideway to ensure the huge project runs as smoothly as possible. The organisation has contracted with three alliances to carry out the construction work. In west London, from Acton to Fulham, work is being delivered by a team of Bam Nuttall, Morgan Sindall and Balfour Beatty. Demolition is expected to take place this autumn at Acton Storm Tanks, an existing pumping station and stormwa- ter tanks site that is being converted to receive the main tunnel and intercept an existing combined sewer overflow. Bored piling works were earmarked to begin in storm tanks 5 and 6 in September. Meanwhile, 24-hour working began this summer at Hammersmith Pumping Station. Central London – from Fulham to Blackfriars – is covered by a joint venture of Ferrovial Agroman UK and Laing O'Rourke Construction. Non-stop working hours began on 15 October at the Blackfriars Foreshore site, with operations to continue unabated until a few days before Christmas. Works will include jet grouting to stabilise the ground to enable excavation of a 66m-deep sha› and eventual safe use of a tunnel boring machine. Holes with 200mm diameters will be drilled up to 50m deep before grout is injected into the ground to strengthen the underlying soil. The site is located on the north bank of the River Thames to the west of the Blackfriars Road Bridge in the heart of the capital. Costain is joined by two French-owned companies, Vinci Construction Grand Projets and Bachy Soletanche, to look a›er the eastern section of the tunnel out to Stratford. Refurbishment of the Manager's Building to the rear of Shad Thames Pumping Station in Bermondsey was completed this year. This ensured there was no access to the second floor of the building and the first floor has been fully screened to maintain the privacy of residents in an adjacent block of flats. Work in Bermondsey will include building a pipeline and manhole chamber underneath Maguire Street to connect with the existing Thames Water local sewer network. This new section of pipework will take wastewa- ter from Shad Thames to Beckton Sewage Treatment Works via Greenwich Pumping Station instead of discharging wastewater from the combined sewer overflow at Butlers Wharf into the River Thames. Also in Bermondsey, the final diaphragm wall panel was completed this year, 72 metres below ground, making up the wall of the sha› at the Chambers Wharf site. An electrically powered hydrof- raise was used in the construc- tion of the panels, and about 35,000 tonnes of material was removed during excavation. As construction progresses, a tunnel boring machine will tunnel west from Carnwath Road Riverside in Fulham toward Acton Storm Tanks. Two TBMs will be launched from Kirtling Street in Battersea: one west to Carnwath Road Riverside; the other east toward Chambers Wharf in Bermondsey. From Chambers Wharf another TBM will head eastwards to Beckton Sewage Treatment Works. Tunnelling began is expected to last into 2021, with the super sewer scheduled for commissioning the following year. Tideway CLIENT: Bazalgette Tunnel Ltd PARTNERS: Bam Nuttall, Morgan Sindall and Balfour Beatty (West Section); Ferrovial Agroman UK & Laing O'Rourke Construction (Central Section); Costain, Vinci Construction Grand Projets, Bachy Soletanche (East Section) TERM: Until completion ALLIANCES 2019: TIDEWAY Tideway JVs forge ahead with super sewer The Thames Tideway Tunnel project is expected to be completed by 2022 Tideway workers at Kirtling Street, Battersea