Leading wet civil engineering company, Land & Water, has completed its works as part of the Thames Tideway Tunnel project to transport and unload the London Clay mined from the new ‘super sewer’ tunnel to its Habitat Creation Scheme in Rainham.

Carried out on behalf of client AC Bennett & Sons, who are employed by the BAM Nuttall, Morgan Sindall, Balfour Beatty joint venture delivering the west section of the new 25km tunnel, through the use of river barges they have removed over 25,000 lorry movements from the roads of London transporting 850,000 tonnes of material from the main drive site for the west section at Carnwath Road Riverside in South West London to Land & Water’s Jetty at Coldharbour Lane where it was then reused to help regenerate natural habits.

Having become involved in the project in January 2018, Land & Water has worked alongside the joint venture throughout the tunnel drive to unload barges supporting the delivery of the west section.

Tom Melhuish, Commercial Supervisor at Land & Water, says: “For many years, Land & Water has been working hard to deliver innovative logistical solutions which will unlock future supply chains in and out of London.

“This project is a truly great example of how the River Thames can be harnessed as a sustainable transport system, reducing both congestion and air pollution, whilst also championing the beneficial re-use of waste to design new habitats and foster biodiversity.

“Despite receiving up to 5,500 tonnes a day and having the added challenge of requiring barges to be unloaded within 12 hours, the project team successfully completed the works without any delay to the tunnelling.”

As part of Land & Water’s continued commitment towards safeguarding the environment and investing in UK infrastructure to build sustainable solutions, its hub at Rainham aims to unlock the River Thames as a liquid highway, linking directly to water transport, whilst also building the largest habitat creation scheme inside the M25.

The west section of the Thames Tideway Tunnel project has contributed over 450,000 tonnes of material to Rainham. This will encourage greater areas of greenery along the Thames corridor and see up to six million tonnes of wet and dry spoil material imported to create an oasis for birds and wildlife.

The Thames Tideway Tunnel is a 25km sewer tunnel designed to help tackle the millions of tonnes of raw sewage pouring into the River Thames each year.   It will ensure the city’s predominantly Victorian sewerage network is able to meet the demands of a rapidly growing population for generations to come.