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.”