Around £1bn worth of contracts have been granted to joint ventures led by Balfour Beatty, Costain, and Laing O’Rourke to construct a major sewer in London…
Work on the Thames Tideway Tunnel sewer in London will be undertaken by separate joint ventures, it has emerged. Infrastructure firm Balfour Beatty, engineer Costain, and construction company Laing O’Rourke have all won contracts to carry out major works on the project.
The Thames Tideway Tunnel sewer will support the growing population of London for at least the next 100 years and will tackle the discharge of untreated sewage that currently enters the River Thames. It is one of the largest projects undertaken by the UK water industry and is set to create more than 9,000 direct and indirect jobs during the peak of construction.
The contracts, which have been awarded by Bazalgette Tunnel Ltd, will go to some of the UK’s largest construction firms.
The west section of the sewer will be constructed thorugh a joint venture (JV) between Balfour Beatty and construction firms Morgan Sindall and BAM Nuttall. This JV is worth £416m.
Balfour Beatty’s Chief Executive Leo Quinn said: “The award of this unique infrastructure project, which is part of the largest ever undertaken by the UK water industry, is another example of the part we are playing in 21st Century engineering.”
Costain alongside French-based companies VINCI Construction Grands Projets and Bachy Soletanche Ltd will undertake work on the east section of the sewer. The £605m contract, of which Costain has a 40 per cent share, is expected to start work immediately and should complete by 2023.
Commenting on the contract, Costain said: “The Thames Tideway Tunnel is a major new sewer, urgently needed to protect the tidal River Thames from pollution and to modernise London’s Victorian sewerage network for the 21st century, underpinning and enhancing economic prosperity.
“It is a large complex programme which addresses an urgent need to help ensure London is provided with a safe and environmentally sustainable water infrastructure.”
The central section of the sewer will be worked on by Laing O’Rourke and Ferrovial Agroman. This contract is expected to be worth between £600m and £900m, although the full details have not been disclosed.
CEO of Thames Water Martin Baggs said: “It’s no exaggeration to say this is a truly momentous day for London and the River Thames. I want to thank everyone who has played a part in getting us this far.
“It’s a historic achievement and I look forward to supporting Bazalgette Tunnel Limited in ensuring the project is delivered safely, on time and to budget.
“The strong competition for both construction and financing has driven down costs for our more than five million bill payers.
“Our current annual bills already include £7 for the tunnel and this will eventually rise to a total of £20 to £25, before inflation.
“This is sharply down from the original maximum estimate of £70 to £80 set four years ago.
“The really good news is that cheaper finance and other efficiencies mean that this hugely important piece of national infrastructure can be built while keeping our bills at or around their current level, before inflation, for at least the next five years.”
An engineering failure, would be a more adequate title. This tunnel will not eliminate raw sewage entering the river Thames, just reduce the frequency and volume of discharges. A more appropriate response from Thames Water would have been expenditure on reducing the flow of waste water from domestic and commercial properties, and a joint project with local authorities in redesigning hard surfaces by implementing Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems. A fraction of £4.2 billion spent on green roofs and living walls, as well as simply allowing moss to grow on roofs would have a greater benefit to Londoners, including wellbeing, air quality and health benefits. Even from a purely economic point of view this project is pure folly and will only benefit shareholders and large engineering firms. This is nothing other than a lost opportunity to have kick started the green economy. This week is the start of World Water Week, the irony of this cannot be more self evident, instead of an intelligent, holistic, cost reducing solution we get a white elephant which will lumber future bill payers for generations to come.