Communities Secretary Eric Pickles and Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss both today signed the order granting development consent for the 25km Thames Tideway Tunnel to be built and operated.
Pickles said: “This is a challenging infrastructure project, but it is clear that the Thames Tunnel will help modernise London’s ageing Victorian sewerage system, and make the River Thames cleaner and safer.”
A construction start has slipped from May 2015 as originally planned to 2016.
The 7.2 metre diameter ‘super sewer’ is designed to stop more than 39m tonnes of untreated sewage being flushed into the Thames every year.
Construction will involve work at 24 sites from Acton in the West to Abbey Mills in the East, along and underneath the Thames.
It will involve using six tunnel boring machines from five drive sites and will directly create more than 4,000 jobs.
The new 25 km tunnel along the river will connect with the Lee Tunnel which is currently under construction.
Work on the Tideway Tunnel will be divided into three lots with contract awards next year.
Shortlisted bidders
West: (£300m – £500m)
- Bam Nuttall, Balfour Beatty, Morgan Sindall
- Costain, Vinci, Bachy
- Dragados, Samsung
- Ferrovial Agroman, Laing O’Rourke
East: (£500m – £800m)
- Bam Nuttall, Balfour Beatty, Morgan Sindall
- Bechtel, Strabag
- Bouygues Travaux Publics
- Costain, Vinci, Bachy
- Hochtief, Murphy
Central: (£600m – £950m)
- Bam Nuttall, Balfour Beatty, Morgan Sindall
- Costain, Vinci, Bachy
- Ferrovial Agroman, Laing O’Rourke
- Skanska, Bilfinger, Razel Bec
The Thames Tideway Tunnel will be financed and delivered by an independent specialist company, separate to Thames Water and with its own licence from Ofwat.
Interested investors are currently preparing bids for this company, with the successful bidder expected to be announced next summer.
The project will be paid for by Thames Water sewerage customers, who will see an £70-80 increase in water bills by the mid 2020s.
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