Key milestone reached at Greenwich construction site

A key milestone has been reached at Tideway’s Greenwich Pumping Station construction site with the start of diaphragm walling, in preparation for digging the tunnel shaft.

Greenwich is one of a number of sites across London that will be used for the construction of the Thames Tideway Tunnel, the 25km super sewer being constructed to tackle the problem of sewage pollution in the River Thames.

The site consists of the existing operational Greenwich Pumping Station site and will be used to construct the connection tunnel through to Tideway’s Chambers Wharf site.

Jim Avant, Tideway’s Delivery Manager, announced: "This has taken more than a year of planning and really hard work by the team. It’s a huge milestone for the site and we’re excited to get started on the next stage of construction.”

The build at the site has now reached the pivotal transition point between site set up and diaphragm walling. A diaphragm wall is a concrete structure inserted in the ground and used to maintain an excavation open, an essential part of digging a tunnel shaft.

A number of key milestones are expected to be reached at Greenwich this year including erection of an acoustic enclosure adjacent to the DLR where work can be completed inside to prevent noise disruption to residents and businesses. It will allow for 24-hour construction, meaning excavation for the shaft can be completed quicker.

Once completed London’s super sewer will stop the millions of tonnes of untreated sewage that flow into the Thames each year. Tunnelling is set to start later this year.