Re-engineered spoils from the Thames Tideway Tunnel project are being used as part of the largest habitat creation project ever constructed inside the M25 and London’s biggest wildlife haven.
Land & Water Group gained consent for developing a habitat creation scheme on the River Thames at Rainham Marshes In late 2018. The project involves creating a significant area of new wetland habitat from re-engineered spoils, coupled with a strategic investment in riverside infrastructure to support significant projects along the Thames Corridor for decades to come.
This summer, the UK-based inland waterway and coastal civil and environmental engineering company has started handling the main tunnel drive spoils from the Thames Tideway Tunnel project at its river-side marine logistics centre, Coldharbour Lane Wharf. The Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) is initially producing material at a rate of approximately 2000t/day.
Land & Water is receiving material in 1500t barges and unloads one to two barges a day. The team will be working to tight deadlines and work has been scheduled to cope with peak tunnelling production.
From the wharf, the waste spoils and material will then be shipped to the group’s adjacent habitat creation site at Rainham Marshes. The material is London Clay and will be used to begin the restoration on the North East corner of site with the ultimate aim of creating natural rainwater harvesting wetlands as per the company’s restoration plan. A new access road and weighbridge facility have also been built and new offices and welfare units will be arriving to the site soon.
The wharf has three berths in total, two of which will be dedicated to Tideway with the third supporting major projects managed by Land & Water Services. One of the projects is a dredging campaign which will be carried out for Cemex at Dagenham Quay.
The Land & Water Services team is also working at its Enderby Wharf site to create a bio diverse intertidal terrace zone which will be planted up with a variety of native plant species to an estuarian environment. This will encourage plant and animal species in a location which was previously devoid of both, part of a wider strategy for offering a green stepping stone of habitats and wildlife havens for the tidal Thames. The work is being carried out on behalf of Townshend Landscape Architects.
James Maclean, CEO at Land & Water commented:
“Our new wharf is helping us to use the River Thames more intellectually, transporting construction materials by water. Development Chiefs at Tideway have estimated that by using this method of transportation for the London Super Sewer, we are taking an estimated 200 lorries of London’s roads each day.”
Sulzer has launched a new global Center of Excellence (CoE) for Water Treatment Solutions - the CoE consolidates Sulzer’s wastewater treatment expertise in a unified and global manner.
“SAS (Surplus Activated Sludge) is a bit weird and 
Owen Mace has taken over as Director of the British Plastics Federation (BPF) Plastic Pipes Group on the retirement of Caroline Ayres. He was previously Standards and Technical Manager for the group.
PureTec Separations, the Ledbury-based water treatment engineering firm, has appointed Dan Norman as its new Sales Manager – Water Process Systems, supporting the company’s continued growth in the UK and international markets.
Hear how Scottish Water has completed its £235 million Ayrshire Glasgow Resilience Project - customers across Greater Glasgow, Ayrshire and East Renfrewshire will now benefit from a more secure and resilient water supply.
Hear how United Utilities is accelerating its investment to reduce spills from storm overflows across the Northwest.
Find out more about the remarkable career opportunities on offer at WSP - scroll down to watch the inspirational video.