The Tideway team at Chelsea Embankment has become the first on the central section of the super sewer project to begin  testing and commissioning of MEICA assets.

This phase of the job at Chelsea follows many years of design and civil engineering works, and will include the installation and testing of key assets.

These include the hydraulic cylinders, the penstock gate, flap valves, high-power units and much more.

These MEICA assets (mechanical, electrical, instrumentation, control and automation) will help transform the site from a detailed concrete structure into a fully functioning component of the wider super sewer system.

At Chelsea, Tideway is working to ‘intercept’ the Ranelagh combined sewer overflow (CSO), which typically discharges more than 280,000 tonnes of sewage into the Thames in an average year.

In addition, the work here will reduce spills from ten other CSOs on the northern bank of the Thames between Chelsea and the City of London, with a combined average discharge per year of 2.1m tonnes.

Tideway’s work will reduce spills from the Ranelagh by around 93%, and from the other ten CSOs by almost 90%.

Once the project is finished, a beautiful new piece of public space will be left along the embankment allowing passers-by to get closer than ever to the River Thames (see CGI below).