The contract was awarded equally between JV Costain and VINCI Construction Grands Projets and covers the construction of two shafts, 15 m diameter each, with a depth of 20 m, a 300 m long cut-and-cover trench and includes the Shieldhall sewer tunnel which is 5 km-long and 4.65 m in diameter. The tunnel will be constructed from Craigton Industrial Estate and will run under Bellahouston Park, Pollok Park, along Titwood Road to Queen’s Park where it will connect into the existing sewer network. The project will improve water quality in the River Clyde and its tributaries and reduce flooding issues at key locations. The tunnel will transfer waste water, provide storage in heavy rainfall and will be the biggest storm water storage tunnel in Scotland.
The tunnel will be constructed using a specially designed tunnel boring machine from Herrenknecht. The tunnel route was carefully selected to minimise disruption. It will be big enough to fit a double-decker bus inside and more than five times as long as the Clyde Tunnel. In August 2015 Buchan Underground were awarded the contract to supply 3,277 precast rings. Each ring is made up of 6 separate segments, each weighing 2300kg which equates to over 19,500 segments to be supplied to the project.
Preparatory work, including mine working consolidation and utility diversion work, started in mid-2014. Groundworks continue with specialist piling work for the first shaft of the tunnel, the service chamber. Also the TBM launch chamber is being made ready using a 60 ton, 20 m high crane and two 100 ton piling rigs which are 28 m high. The two pilling machines will be in operation until early November. The excavation within Jura Street is required to enable the installation and launch of the TBM from the launch site at the Jura Street triangle. The Herrenknecht TBM will arrive on site in January 2016 and the tunnelling will begin in March 2016.
The full project will take approximately 3 years to complete. Click uk/78 for tunnelbuilder archive. Visit http://www.scottishwater.co.uk/, http://www.vinci-construction-projects.com/ and http://costain.com/. 42/15
