A 1,200-tonne concrete ‘lid’ has capped the deepest shaft on the Tideway project, marking the full completion of the heavy civil engineering works.
The lifting of the 24m-wide lid at Abbey Mills Pumping Station was undertaken by positioning a gantry crane on two SPMTs (self-propelled modular transporters) and manoeuvring the structure over the course of five hours.
With the cap in place, London is now closer than ever to its ultimate goal of a cleaner River Thames, with the team’s attention now turning to the process of commissioning.
This will ensure the new system – a 25km tunnel, two connection tunnels, 21 shafts, a host of valves and vortex generators – function as designed, before Tideway looks ahead to bringing it into full operation in 2025.
CEO Andy Mitchell said:
“This is the moment we’ve all been waiting for. The underground civil engineering on the Tideway project is now complete following eight years of dedicated hard work from all our teams working in the capital.
“There is still work to do – we need to finish some above-ground structures and, crucially, test the system – but this nonetheless marks an absolutely critical milestone for the Tideway project and for London.”
In a typical year, around 40 million tonnes of storm sewage spills into the River Thames. Once fully operational, the new infrastructure will ensure future spills are virtually eliminated.
With the cap now on the shaft at Abbey Mills, Tideway is also continuing its architecture and landscaping works at various sites along the route of the tunnel, including Blackfriars, Victoria and Chelsea.
These sites (seven in total) will soon be home to completely new areas of public realm, reclaimed from the Thames, offering an entirely new vantage of the city.
