Falconbrook Pumping Station

Tideway’s construction work at Falconbrook Pumping Station is now substantially complete.

Our work at Falconbrook is part of the London super sewer project, a 25km tunnel under the Thames, designed to prevent sewage pollution of the river.

The completion of our work here is an important milestone ahead of the tunnel being fully operational in 2025. When the whole system is online, it will prevent an estimated 95 per cent of sewage discharges that currently overflow into the tidal Thames, improving the water quality for fish and other wildlife - and for people who use it for recreation and leisure.

At our Falconbrook site we have:

• Excavated a 40m-deep shaft and interception chamber to intercept the sewage that currently overflows into the Falconbrook Pumping Station.
• Built a 250m-long connecting tunnel to link the Falconbrook site to the main sewer tunnel beneath the Thames.
• Installed mechanical and electrical equipment to make the system run smoothly.
• Re-surfaced and created a new public space for the local community.

Although construction is mostly complete, you may continue to see some Tideway staff in and around the pumping station as we work to bring the super sewer into operation and undertake testing work on the new systems.

Site Works

Overview of site at Falconbrook

Tunnel

Working in the Connection tunnel at Falconbrook

Aerial

Aerial View of Site

Brand New

Community space

The new space on York Road provides an improved entrance into York Gardens and a new space with a variety of seating. This pedestrianised public realm provides an enhanced connection with the rest of the park and is fully accessible, including level seating arears for wheelchair users to be alongside seated companions, tactile paving and handrails to the steps. New lighting makes the space publicly accessible at night.

The space integrates an artwork that responds to the heritage of the pumping station and origins of the sewer system. A poem created by Frances Presley, cast in bronze and located in the ground at the site entrance, explores the history and written records of the ‘lost’ Falcon Brook and its surrounding land. The poet collaborated with type designer Robert Green to design the layout of the poem using a font based on the Doves Type.

Frances Presley

Falcon Brook

Frances Presley has been commissioned by Tideway to create a poem for a plaque on Falconbrook Pumping Station, and the poet based her response on the Falconbrook, a Lost River, prone to flooding, as well as major redevelopments of the area and their impact on green open space. She researched the site, which occupies part of York Gardens near Clapham Junction, through Tideway’s Heritage Interpretation Strategy, ‘Babylon to World City: Civic London’ and the site-specific narrative is also related to the emergence of the new sewer system.

Learn more about the artist