An assessment of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the 25km long, 7.2m diameter Thames Tideway Tunnel Project has found it will now be completed in the first half of 2025, nine months later than the scheduled date in 2024, and will have a revised forecast that adds £233M to the previous forecast, taking the estimated project cost to £4.133bn.
Bazalgette Finance plc provided the update in respect of Bazalgette Tunnel Limited, trading as Tideway, the company delivering the Thames Tideway Tunnel.
Tideway is in discussions with Ofwat on a package of measures that would mitigate the financial impact of COVID-19 on the company.
A statement says, “We are making progress in these discussions and we expect to reach a full agreement in the coming months.
Following a temporary pause of all but essential works at the start of the UK lockdown, construction work recommenced on the majority of the company’s worksites in May, albeit at a lower level of activity in order to comply with social distancing requirements.”
The company published its annual report and accounts in June 2020, setting out the progress made in 2019/20, including constructing half of the super sewer. The report also provided further detail of the measures taken as a result of the pandemic.
Work on the 25km super sewer, which will run from Acton in west London to Stratford in east London, started in 2016. More than 14km of tunnel have been constructed.
The Tunnel has been divided into three sections – east (5.5km long), west (7km long) and central (13km long) – with each section being constructed by a different joint venture of contractors.
The West section is being built by the Joint Venture of BAM Nuttall, Morgan Sindall and Balfour Beatty Group. The Central section by the Joint Venture of Ferrovial Agroman UK and Laing O’Rourke Construction, and East section by the Joint Venture of Costain, Vinci Construction Grands Projets and Bachy Soletanche.
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