A giant stainless-steel vortex system has been lowered into the shaft at Hammersmith Pumping Station as part of the supersewer for London which is currently under construction.
The system forms the centrepiece of the work taking place at the site as part of the Tideway Tunnel project.
Around two million tonnes of sewage overflows from the pumping station and into the River Thames every single year.
Tideway, the company responsible for delivering the £4.2 billion project, is working to divert those flows into a new 25km super sewer, currently under construction deep beneath the river.
However, at Hammersmith the flows need to drop down a 15-metre-deep shaft – which is why the vortex is needed.
Falling that distance, the flows would wear away the bottom of the shaft; but the 28-tonne vortex generator will ‘spin’ the flows down the pipe, removing the energy and preserving the base.
This week, the vortex was rotated and dropped down into the shaft in a complex and meticulously-planned lifting operation.
The 21-metre-long, 65-tonne pipe section of the system has had over 1,000 stainless steel studs painstakingly welded onto its outer wall that slotted precisely into place during the installation.
With the UK government demanding a 50% reduction in storm overflow spills by 2029, the era of reactive management is over. Speaking in the House of Commons on 21 July 2025, then environment secretary Steve Reed said, “This Government will cut water companies’ sewage pollution in half by the end of the decade.”
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