Tideway is building a new 25km super sewer,  deep beneath the Thames, where around two million tonnes of sewage overflowing from the pumping station and into the River every year, will be diverted. At Hammersmith these flows need to drop down a 15-metre-deep shaft – which is why a vortex is needed. Falling that distance, the flows would wear away the bottom of the shaft; but the 28-t vortex generator will ‘spin’ the flows down the pipe, removing the energy and preserving the base. Late last month following a meticulous six-month build a giant stainless-steel vortex system and a big single piece of pipe, manufactured by a specialist firm in Cumbria,  were delivered to Tideway’s Hammersmith site, after a 525 km journey to London.The 21-metre-long, 65-tonne pipe section of the system, which will be installed into the shaft vertically, has had over 1,000 stainless steel studs painstakingly welded onto its outer wall that will slot into place when installed.

The 1,000th barge

The 1,000th barge removing excavated tunnel material from Tideway's Kirtling Street has departed the site in Battersea on the beginning of June. Each time one of the TBMs Millicent and Ursula advances, it produces approximately 265 t of material from the tunnels.  The two TBMs, launched from the bottom of the shaft at Kirtling Street to dig the central section of the new super sewer, have excavated over 1.4m t of tunnel spoil in total, all of which has been transported from site by barge, removing the need for on-road vehicles. The spoil from Kirtling Street's tunnels is taken along the river to Ingrebourne Valley’s Tilbury Ash Disposal site and Rainham for beneficial reuse.

Millicent, the westbound machine, finished her 5km drive in November 2019. TBM Ursula has travelled approximately 4.8km so far on her 7.5km eastbound journey towards the Chambers Wharf site in Bermondsey. 

For archive information please click here and uk/54 and also find further information by visiting https://www.tideway.london/. 25/20.