Engineering's past and future combined for the latest milestone on London’s super sewer with the installation of a steel flume in the existing Victorian system at Blackfriars Bridge.  

The team at Blackfriars Bridge Foreshore in the heart of the capital has completed the installation of the steel structure in the Low Level 1 Sewer which runs beneath the embankment.

The flume is 21 metres long and 2.3 metres in diameter – fitting inside the 2.5 metre diameter brick sewer constructed in the 19th century.

The installation will keep the existing Low Level 1 Sewer in place and allow it to function as normal while the team continues its works on the new ‘super sewer’ under construction.  

Eventually the top portion, or crown, will be removed to accommodate an overflow system directing sewage into the Low Level 1 culvert currently being constructed inside the cofferdam, shaft and main tunnel.

The flume, construction of which commenced in March, is made up of 440 components, all of which were transported manually and the structure weighs in at 10.5 tonnes.

The installation was an exemplary operation achieved through planning, design, approvals and construction work.

Blackfriars is one of the largest sites on the Tideway project intercepting one of the most polluting combined sewer overflows the currently flows into the River Thames after rainfall.