networks summer 2014

Issue No.16 Summer 2014

Maida Vale

Year 4 Review

Construction phase reaches parks

What a year that was

Networks

2 Networks Newsletter

In our regular interview with Thames Water head of Networks Delivery Mark Taylor (above, right) and Optimise contract director Ian Noble (left), they look back at Year 4 from a Thames Water perspective - and at Optimise’s role in helping deliver the targets – and ahead to Year 5.

Year Four of the AMP was a year of success and achievement for the Networks Delivery team at Thames Water, with Optimise playing a key role in the delivery of the many achievements.

Mark Taylor said: “Year 4 was a very successful year.

“Overall we achieved £170 million of value of work done (VOWD) and we met or exceeded all our regulatory targets. Many of our achievements make impressive reading, not least the letters and emails we receive from satisfied customers. Again, both contractors have engaged with customers and last year we

received more written commendations than complaints, which is outstanding!

In the health and safety sector, we’ve driven a significant reduction in service strikes and maintained a health and safety performance to be proud of. Both contractors have also remained engaged with the Health and Safety Leadership Team and continued to drive continuous improvement.”

On Leakage, the team achieved a saving of 48Mld, beating its revised target by 3Mld and more than doubling the initial

target set at the start of the year.

On Flooding, too, the team beat its target outputs. Mark Taylor said: “We must remember that each flooding ‘output’ reduces the risk of flooding in a customer’s home or business. With a focus on FLIPS and a great deal of effort by Optimise and MGJV we put in a great big surge during the final three months in order to reduce the risk for nearly 150 properties.

“It was touch and go with the flooding outputs but from a collaborative point of view we have come on leaps and bounds.

“On emergencies, our contractors remain at the forefront, supporting Operations and taking on jobs which are technically difficult or where there are additional health and safety challenges,” said Mark.

Ian Noble said: “Overall, Optimise’s Year 4 targets seemed even more ‘impossible’ than those for Year 3 - but we achieved them. We just quietly worked on what we had to do, with

much less fanfare, compared to Year 3. Optimise now feels like a mature organisation working its way through to get the job done.”

But if Year 4 was a challenging, Year 5 promises to be just as demanding. The Network Delivery VOWD for this year has been set at £140m with the possibility of other work pushing it back up around the £170m mark again. For Optimise, Year 5 VOWD is currently £98m, with other work under negotiation.

Mark Taylor said: “For Optimise, the focus will be on flooding. Our target output of 564 flooding internals is a tough one and will provide a big challenge for the year, although major projects such as Maida Vale will provide some big hits in achieving those numbers. The thing is, in the final year of an AMP there is no flexibility, we need to deliver on our commitments.”

Ian Noble said: “There is great pressure on Thames Water to hit its targets by the end of Year 5 and by March next year we will be measured on how we have helped them achieve that. If we are going to hit the targets, people have to keep going flat out.”

Mark Taylor agrees. “My message to Optimise people would be ‘keep the focus’ and don’t take your foot off the gas. We have a busy year to go at and I’m confident that we have the team in place to complete a truly successful AMP.”

Year Four success sets the stage for Year 5

> intro

Customers will choose Thames Water because of our performance

View From the Top

“Year 4 was a very successful year. It was touch and go with the

flooding outputs but from a collaborative point of

view we have come on leaps and bounds.”

Mark Taylor, Thames Water head of Networks Delivery

Front Page: Construction work is now under way in parks in Maida Vale – full story page 10.

3Networks Newsletter

Some great positives – but some worrying negatives too. That’s the summary by HSEQ manager Nick Gilbert of Optimise’s Year 4 health and safety performance.

He said: “It’s pleasing that, taking into account the type of work we are involved in, Optimise has a low level of Lost Time Incidents (LTIs) – just four for the whole year. But the fact that the number of RIDDOR reportable significant incidents rose to six after a long period of non-accidents was very disappointing.”

Of the six RIDDORS, three occurred within OPEX R&M, two in North London CAPEX and one in Developer Services.

By the end of the year the Accident Frequency Rate (AFR) stood at 0.4, against a target of 0.16.

Encouragingly though, the number of service strikes in the year fell to 164, against a target of 150. “That was a very encouraging 45 per cent reduction in service strikes over the previous year, “ said Nick.

Another highlight was the donation of over £7500 to the construction industry’s charity the Lighthouse Club. Optimise donates £1 to the Club for every Near Miss reported.

Nick Gilbert added: “Looking ahead to Year 5, our health and safety targets include the AFR challenge to reduce the RIDDOR rate to 0.15 per 100khrs and to further cut service strikes to 125 over the year, and in particular a reduction in the number of electricity strikes.”

Optimise teams are being urged to ‘Use your Genny’ in the latest stage of the Service Avoidance campaign.

A series of stickers and posters are being circulated to reinforce the key message that ‘you can’t use the CAT without the Genny’.

The Cable Avoidance Tool (CAT) is a key piece of equipment for locating buried services – but is just half the solution. HSEQ manager Nick Gilbert explained: “The signal generator, or Genny, is a small box that comes with the CAT equipment. It helps the location of small diameter cables such as telecoms and street lighting, including spurs.

“During conference call feedback of recent service strikes it became evident that while CATs were widely in use, teams were often not using their signal generator. This campaign helps remind people to make use of all the tools at their disposal, and that includes the Genny.”

Mixed report on progress, and tough targets for Year 5

Year 4 Safety Performance> health and safety updates


Publicity campaign tells full CAT story

Use Your Genny“This campaign helps

remind people to make use of all the tools at their

disposal, and that includes the Genny.”

HSEQ manager Nick Gilbert

A recent significant near miss incident is being used as a behavioural safety tool by the health and safety team.

CCTV footage shows an operative arriving at a road to refill an area of failing reinstatement and shovelling material directly into the road from the back of a flat-bed truck then filling and levelling the hole – in heavy traffic, without barriers or PPE!

The incident was captured on CCTV by a local council, and then escalated to Thames Water.

The film was also shown at the Thames Water Health & Safety conference to

reinforce the need to continuously challenge and improve the behaviours of people working in AMP5.

Nick Gilbert said: “We have been using the CCTV film as part of a safety discussion, under the title ‘What makes somebody do this?’. It has become an invaluable tool to examine people’s attitudes and motivations, and discuss proposals for future prevention.

“But the incident also highlighted a weakness in Optimise’s procedures for managing ‘two hour defects’ and new rules stipulating a two-person minimum have now been introduced for works directly in the road.”

CCTV film becomes training aid

What Makes Somebody Do This? > health and safety updates

4 Networks Newsletter Customers will choose Thames Water because of our performance

Anxiety under the spotlight

Mental Health Week

Optimise supported Mental Health Awareness Week, which ran from May 12 -18 on the topic of anxiety, as part of its continuing emphasis on the health aspect of ‘health and safety’.

Each year the Mental Health Foundation - the UK’s leading mental health and learning disability charity - campaigns around a specific theme for Mental Health Awareness Week.

Health and safety manager Clare Hamment said: “Anxiety is one of the world’s leading causes of mental ill-health and each year one in four of us will experience a mental health problem such as anxiety or depression.”

Communications highlighted a number of ways to reduce anxiety, including keeping active, eating and drinking well, staying in touch with friends and loved ones, and asking for help. Other advice covered talking about the way you feel, taking a break, accepting who you are and caring for others.

“Everyone has feelings of anxiety at some point in their life. However what can begin as normal, everyday anxiety can develop into something more serious, like a panic, phobia, or obsessional disorder.

“We also stressed that it is OK for people to talk about mental health problems. Ignoring or hiding anxiety can result in delayed help and prolonged suffering. There are lots of resources available on the internet and charities that can help if you want to talk to someone,” said Clare.

“We have been using the CCTV film as part of a safety discussion, under

the title ‘What makes somebody do this?’. It

has become an invaluable tool to examine people’s

attitudes and motivations, and discuss proposals for

future prevention.”HSEQ manager Nick Gilbert


Congratulations on being the winner of the Q1 2014 best Near Miss award go to Steve Allen, from the Optimise Thames Valley project at Blackdown Reservoir.

Steve had recognised that the entrance to the site had become churned up and presented a hazard, and addressed the issue by organising the area to be levelled and suitable material laid.

Steve receives £50 in gift vouchers. He is pictured (right, in bottom picture) receiving his prize from Steve Henderson.

The winner of the randomly drawn Near Miss Winner for January to March was Charlotte Burr.

Charlotte is based in the Brixton Repair and Maintenance office and has taken quite a few opportunities to record near misses and improvement opportunities around the office.

She is pictured (top)being presented £50 in gift vouchers by Graham Ritchie.

> health and safety updates


Reservoir project hazard solved

Near Miss Winners

Optimise well represented in annual Thames Water event

New safety specialist arrives at OPEX

Awards Shortlist

Duncan Gray Joins H&S Team

Six of the submissions from Optimise were shortlisted for this year’s Thames Water Health, Safety and Wellbeing awards.

At the time of going to press the eventual winners had not been announced, but the shortlisted six were:

Excellence in H&S performance: Optimise CAPEX Thames Valley – ‘health and safety is no accident’.

Best practice in H&S collaboration: SCADA forum.

Innovation of the Year: Polyhorse pipe magazine.

H&S in planning and design: OSA – a new era in embankment protection; Swindon STW network upgrade; Maida Vale flow control design innovation.

Young Person of the Year: Niall Byrne.

Duncan Gray has joined the Health & Safety team as H&S manager for Operations. He was previously working for Murphy on a major infrastructure project in Rugby. He said: “I have been impressed by the high levels of knowledge and competence of the contract and site managers I have met so far.

“I am totally focussed on the safety of our people and I am looking forward to helping drive down the number of service strikes experienced in OPEX.”H&S manager for Operations, Duncan Gray

> Spotlight


The need to build a new CSO on an existing main culvert 3.5m wide and 1m deep presented an interesting challenge to the Swindon team carrying out the £7m flood alleviation scheme in the Cheney Manor area of Swindon.

The side wall of the culvert needed to be demolished in order to build new weir walls and the team needed to come up with a robust solution to contain flows that are regularly 1000 litres a second, peaking at 4,000 litres a second after rain. Over-pumping was not really viable due to the large flow, and building a diversion would have been a costly and time consuming approach.

John Clark, Colin Joyce and Richard Pring worked on the idea of creating

a steel barrier to effectively ‘push’ the flows to the side of the culvert and create a shielded area for working. They first created a scale model with a Weetabix packet (!), worked up the concept, and eventually came up with the specifications required for a barrier to safely divert the flow. The design involved the addition of a rubber ‘skirt’ to create a seal.

Project manager John Clark, said: “We hoped that the rubber skirt would create a reasonable seal but we have been really pleased that there is little or no evidence of leakage.

This means that the team can work safely on the dry side of the culvert.”

The installation of the 11 tonne, 18m steel barrier was also a challenge to the team. A 95 tonne crane was required to lift the barrier and the team created ‘zip lines’ so that the installers were clipped on with a safety harness and fall arrest that allowed safe movement above the culvert. The barrier should be in place for six weeks, while the new CSO is being built and the culvert has been temporarily covered for safety reasons and to control odour.

Barrier bright idea starts as cardboard model

Innovation In Swindon

The idea of using a steel barrier to give protection from flows to those working on culvert walls ( below) began with a cardboard model (above).

“...we have been really pleased that there is little or no evidence of leakage. This means that the team can work safely on the dry

side of the culvert.”Project manager, John Clark

Networks visited the teams for Thames Valley and North London to get the story behind Developer Service’s massive improvement in CSAT scores, which has recently taken the division to the highest customer-rated scores across Thames Water

“It’s been a lot of hard work, but it’s definitely shown results,” says Karen Ives, contract manager for Thames Valley.

“The improvement can be attributed to a number of initiatives,” says Danielle Trask, planning team leader for Thames Valley, “but overall it is about communication, building strong working relationships and improvements in information.”

And Jas Kang, contract manager for North London, adds: “The team consistently

strives for its customers to have a good experience by incorporating a positive team attitude and a ‘We Can Do’ approach in meeting the customers’ expectations in delivering the work and ensuring a quality service is provided.”

Co-located teams with colleagues in Thames Water for both regions has been positive; the teams can see that they are working for the benefit of customers and face to face communication means that any issues can be resolved quickly. The improved note taking and record keeping has also benefitted the teams and together with the Thames Water Customer Service team (based at CWC, Reading) escalations or complaints are accurately responded back to the customer with an early resolution for the customer as the key focus.

“The Planning Team has worked very hard in maintaining communication with our customers and building relationships with all our key stakeholders,” says Majella Costello, planning manager for North London.

James Kingston, OPEX delivery manager (Developer Services), sums it up: “We’ve definitely matured as a contract within Optimise, drawing on the support of the health and safety department, the commercial teams and the rest of the senior management in Optimise. We also have a great customer-facing team of planners, enablers, supervisors and gangs who are able to deliver an excellent service to Thames Water and their customers.”

CSAT success takes Developer Services to the top

DS Update


> Spotlight


The Thames Valley Developer Services

Planning team with team leader Danielle

Trask (right).

The North London Developer

Services Planning team with planning

manager Majella Costello (right).

“We’ve definitely matured as a contract within

Optimise, drawing on the support of the health and safety department, the commercial team

and the rest of the senior management in Optimise.”

James Kingston, OPEX delivery manager (Developer Services)

> Spotlight


Spotlight On Year 4 What a year that was!

Value of Work Done

Year 4 of AMP5 will go into the record books as the busiest year since the start of the AMP, and the year that all Optimise’s Milestone targets were either met or beaten. Here Networks takes a look at some of the key facts and figures and the highlights – and takes a peek ahead to Year 5.

Optimise delivered £102.7M of Value of Work Done (VOWD) for CAPEX in Year 4 – the busiest year since the AMP began.

The highest-ranking sectors were £17.1m on Waste Network, £17.0m on Tunnel, Reservoirs and Aquaducts, and £16.7m on Flooding. VMR spend was £14.1m and Trunk Mains £13.9m.

Milestones

Waste Water

Lead Pipe Replacement

VMR

DMR

On Sewer Flooding, Optimise achieved 80 internal flooding outputs, where properties are removed from the at risk register through company action. During the programme to date 154 outputs have now been achieved. This beats the baseline target by 11. There was significant success in fast-tracking FLIP outputs to beat the regulatory target, with customer relationships a crucial factor in the success.

On Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs), 9 CSO outputs were achieved, beating the regulatory target by 1 and bringing to 14 the number of CSOs now achieved on the programme this AMP.

• 14.2km of VMR mains were replaced in the year - bringing the total achieved in programme to date to 209km.

• 15.1Ml/d of leakage reduction has been achieved to date.

• 10 DMAs were taken over during the year - that is 39 taken-over to date, with 10 left to go!

• 4.0km of DMR mains was replaced, bringing the total achieved in the programme to date to 129km.

• 6,804 outputs achieved in the year.

• The target was increased by 1,650 to 6,804 and (just) achieved.

• The programme has now achieved a total of 26,596 outputs to date.

Optimise either beat or achieved all its Milestone targets for Year 4 – a great achievement.

Gateway 3: 41 achieved in year, and 286 in four years so far – beating the target by 14Start on site: 88 in year and 320 to end of Year 4 – beating the target by 61Take-over: 93 achieved in Year 4 and 278 at end of Year 4 – achieving the target

Project Successes

Queen Mother and Wraysbury Tunnel Relining:Despite delays due to flooding of site, 3.21km of 2.54m diameter tunnel relining was completed in March 2014. A total saving of £0.6M has been delivered on this project.

Lea Valley Embankment Protection:OSA (open stone asphalt) was used to repair and protect reservoir embankments at Lockwood, High Maynard, Walthamstowe No. 4 & No. 5 reservoirs. This new technique for Thames Water sites required specific approval, but generated a significant reduction in installation time and cost.

Leakage programme support:• 38 PRV installations were fast-tracked in North London and Thames Valley to support the pressure management initiative.

• Trunk main leak repairs delivering more than 7Ml/d savings.

• Innovative technique used to repair long-standing leak under railway at Orient Way.

Wet Weather Event emergency responses:• Bund installed to protect Marlow STW.

• Enabling works installed at Hambledon Tanks and Eton Boreholes for deployment of package treatment plants.

• Various works supporting Thames Water’s emergency response.

Speen and Woods Farm trunk main projects:• Speen – a new 19.2km trunk main was installed between Tilehurst and Cold Ash Reservoir to reinforce supplies to Newbury.

• Woods Farm – a new 5.5km trunk main was installed between Woods Farm and Moulsford SR to enable full utilisation of deployable output from Woods Farm Water Treatment Works.

• Both trunk mains were substantially installed during the summer months, with combined savings of over £1m.

SDACs:• 706km of sewers surveyed, mapped and cleaned.

• Dedicated team established at Lea Bridge to manage the programme.

• Cutting-edge IT systems deployed to capture and analyse data.

• Unit rate savings in excess of 30%.

Customers will choose Thames Water because of our performance 9Networks Newsletter

Year 5Looking ahead, Year 5 will be just as busy as Year 4, but with increasing emphasis on the waste network, particularly sewer flooding. The Year 5 VOWD is currently forecast at £98m, £38.3m of which is set to come from flooding, and £19.8m from the waste network.

Year 5 Outputs include:

• 423 sewer flooding internal outputs, including 177 on the Maida Vale scheme and 225 on the Baseload 9 programme.

• 4 CSO quality-driven outputs.

• More than 4,000 lead pipe replacement outputs.

• Around 10km of VMR.

Major projects being delivered in Year 5 include:

• Iver Sludge Phase 2 - £5.5m

• Wyke Gardens Dual Manholes - £2.3m

• Maida Vale Flood Alleviation - £8.6m

• Emergency Drawdown NL - £2.0m

• NOS Bridges Phase 2 - £7.4m

• Swindon Network Update - £6.9m

• Haydon End - £4.7m

A significant volume of additional work is currently under pricing and negotiation with Thames Water and further reactive and emergency work is also anticipated.

> Projects


Thames Water has used an innovative package pumping station for the first time, in the Optimise Queens Road, Reading flood alleviation project.

The complex scheme to remove five properties from the Sewer History Flooding Database has included the installation of FLIPS pumping stations in chambers at the front of a Georgian terrace in Queens Road, and new sewers. In addition the novel underground pumping station and storage tank have been installed beneath the gardens of the 17th Century Watlington House,

Delivery manager Mark Yates said: “The idea of a package pumping station has been around for some time, but this is the first time Thames Water has trialled its use on a large pump station.

Instead of building a pumping station on site, prefabricated GRP chambers incorporating external steel reinforcement cages are used. Also, the pipework and pumps and valve chamber are manufactured off site and arrive as a ready-made unit in two halves, which are simply welded together on site.

“There are a number of benefits. The pumping station is cost effective, and is more precisely constructed. Also, there are health and safety advantages from reduced below ground level working.

“Overall, the Queen Road project was an extremely complex solution and presented a ‘shopping list’ of how to make a job difficult. I take my hat off to everyone involved – the site team did a terrific job.”

The £17.5 million Optimise flood alleviation scheme is now well under way in Maida Vale.

Enormous underground tanks are being installed in parks at Westbourne Green and Tamplin Mews Gardens to reduce the risk of sewage flooding into 350 West London residents’ properties.

The project began at the end of August and, since March, construction of the pumping stations shafts in each of the parks has been under way.

Delivery manager Iain Tytler said: “Both excavations are going well at the moment.”

Optimise and Thames Water have been working hard to ensure residents and local stakeholders are supported and kept well informed.

Iain said: “As part of the planning requirement, we have formed business and resident liaison groups for each scheme. They meet monthly to give an opportunity for people to come to us with their concerns and interests. It is the first time Optimise has done this.”

As well as investing £25,000 in providing alternative sports facilities to users of the parks while work is going on, the project team is also proposing to construct a new garden on the corner of two roads.

“We will be using excavated material from the shafts to make the area more attractive,” said Iain. “We are trying to give some additional green space back to people while our work goes on.”

Innovative package pumping station put to use

Construction work starts in parks

Queens Road

Maida Vale

> Projects

11Networks NewsletterCustomers will choose Thames Water because of our performance

Orchard is community benefit from flood scheme

Chamberlayne Road

Work is due to start in July on a £6.1m scheme to reduce the risk of sewer flooding around 30 properties in the Chamberlayne Road area of Brent.

The properties, which include homes, businesses, a school and a church, have reported internal flooding. Many more people have been affected by flooding in their gardens and on the roads.

Optimise will be excavating a 25m deep, 15m diameter shaft beneath Tiverton Green to accommodate an underground tank that will take excess flows in times of heavy rain.

In addition, 200m of 1.2m diameter microtunnel will transfer flows from Chamberlayne Road towards the new storage tank, and from the tank back to the existing sewer network.

The existing sewers in two other local streets also need to be increased in size.

Optimise lead design engineer Joe Torode said: “We looked at a number of design solutions, and chose this mainly tunnelled solution as it provides the least disruption to residents and businesses. We are also timing the creation of a tunnel drive shaft adjacent to a local school so that work there takes place mainly in school holidays.”

“We have worked closely with Brent Council and with those affected to explain our plans, and we hope to complete the project by March 2015.”

Once the work in the park is complete, reinstatement will include new wider footpaths, and the addition of an innovative community orchard, supplied by Optimise.

Additional storage to aid flooded properties

High Road Willesden

Optimise will be constructing an underground storage tank beneath a busy car park, used mainly by Sainsbury’s shoppers, as part of its work to prevent flooding in Willesden.

The scheme will help at least 28 properties in the High Road that have been flooded in the past.

North London delivery manager Vincent Keogh said: “We will be sinking a 15m diameter, 15m deep shaft to accommodate the storage tank, which will sit mostly beneath the car park.”

The tank will be connected to the existing main sewer running down the High Road

via new sewers to be laid in the Ellis Close side road, adjacent to the car park. During storm event some flows will divert

into the new tank until the storm subsides, when they can be pumped back into the network further along the High Road.”

Work has begun and is due to be completed by the end of October.

Vincent added: “There is very little open ground near High Road Willesden. The location has been chosen because it will provide the least disruptive solution. We will keep the working area to the smallest area possible to safely complete the work.

“When we’re finished, the only thing visible will a small kiosk surrounded by protective bollards in Ellis Close.”

“The location has been chosen because it will

provide the least disruptive solution... When we’re finished, the only thing

visible will a small kiosk surrounded by protective bollards in Ellis Close.”North London delivery manager

Vincent Keogh

“Ultimately newts didn’t delay the start – but it could have been a showstopper. The residents tried to use great crested newts as a means to stop the project at the eleventh hour, but we had it covered.”Optimise principal environmental adviser Chris Rochfort


Optimise encounters great crested newts on two projects

Environment Update> Projects

The Optimise environmental team is heavily involved in two current Optimise projects, to ensure legal compliance with respect to great crested newts while work goes on.

It is illegal to injure or kill great crested newts and special licenses are required to handle individual newts, or to damage their habitat in any way.

At Woodcote reservoir in Oxfordshire, Optimise has been called in to repair a leaking water main close to the reservoir. However, the nearby Greenmore ponds are listed in Thames Water documentation as supporting a great crested newt population, and the habitat on the reservoir is excellent terrestrial habitat for them.

Optimise principal environmental adviser Chris Rochfort said: “Because this is an emergency project it is in the public interest for us to act swiftly and so we were able to start work without the licence in place. However, the police and Natural England were notified of our actions and a licensed ecologist has been brought in to oversee our works.

“We have established newt exclusion fencing around our entire work area to keep the newts out while we carry out the repair.

“Additionally we carried out survey work of the Greenmore Ponds in

collaboration with members of the local parish council, who have a strong interest in the historic ponds which are listed in the Domesday Book of 1086.”

And at Haydon End, Swindon, where Optimise is carrying out a £4.7 million flood alleviation programme in the Taw Hill area, a great crested newt licence has been obtained where work is required at a new housing estate which was built around newts a few years ago.

Chris Rochfort said: “The housebuilder spent hundreds of thousands of pounds dealing with newts and incorporated many newt-friendly features including special kerbs, tunnels, and even newt underpasses! Optimise is having to deal with similar issues on a smaller scale.

“For the temporary works, the area is surrounded by one foot high exclusion fencing to keep out the newts. For the permanent works we will install some concrete kerbing , and are putting in a new underpass. New areas of compensatory newt habitat, comprising rough grassland, scrub and hedgerow, have also been created in agreement with Swindon Borough Council.

“We had to very carefully plan the work into the programme to prevent newts being a material planning consideration for our planning

application. This required design changes to move the above ground structures out of the newt habitat. We also had to split the works into two phases, the second phase needs the licence and this allowed the first phase including the shaft to commence on time.

“Ultimately newts didn’t delay the start – but it could have been a showstopper. This is a good example of how attention to this issue prevents possible delays.”

Again, a licensed ecologist is overseeing the works.

Chris Rochfort said: “Projects involving great crested newts are usually rare for Optimise. But, having encountered only one in the first four years of the AMP, Optimise is currently having to deal with newts at four separate projects.”

Newt exclusion fencing at Woodcote reservoir.

Customers will choose Thames Water because of our performance 13Networks Newsletter

> Projects

Flood storage squeezed in

Langdon Park Road

The team carrying out a flood alleviation scheme in Haringey, North London is battling to construct an underground storage chamber just a few metres from local houses.

The work at Langdon Park Road is taking place within a tight network of narrow residential roads just off the A1.

The scheme will alleviate flooding at five properties in the road, and has involved modification and reconstruction of a manhole at the junction with the main Northwood Road, and the construction of a new 6m deep, 2.7m diameter manhole part way along the road, where a new overflow sewer has been installed at right angles to run beneath Milton Park.

This 70m long 450mm concrete sewer discharges into a pumping station consisting of a 6m diameter, 15m deep storage chamber, plus a separate 2.1m diameter, 4.5m deep valve chamber.

Flows are then pumped into the existing main.

Site manager Denny Marriott said: “To accommodate the pumping station we have removed a Victorian road island, and its hand-carved granite segments have been put into storage for reinstatement when our work is complete.”

Working alongside Denny on the project are site engineer ‘Raga’ – Raagavan Sivanadiyar, and site supervisor Jim Crinson.

Throughout the project – and particularly where the pumping station construction work is taking place so close to Milton Park residents, Denny and his team are taking painstaking efforts to ensure they maintain the support of local residents.

He said: “A lot of our men have come over from VMR so they are

used to dealing with the public – and good communication with the local residents is a massive factor in the success of this project.”

Tight fit beneath town’s busy streets

Reading Mains Replacement

“Just like spaghetti” – that’s how site manager Jim Hale describes the services and utilities obstructing his team’s mains replacement programme in Reading town centre.

“In some places we can hardly squeeze our new water main through,” he adds. The team is replacing 2.7km of ageing cast iron and ductile iron main with new PE pipe ranging in diameter from 90mm to 250mm. They began work in April and aim to be completed by October.

With the project taking place just a few metres from the busy town’s main shopping streets, organisation, liaison and communication with local stakeholders are key. “The biggest challenge is managing the impact on pedestrians and the traffic,” said Jim.

“We hold weekly meetings with the local authority, and also liaise closely

with Reading Buses, local shopkeepers, and stallholders at the Reading Market, which is also affected by our work.”

While much of the replacement project can be open cut, pipe insertion techniques are being used for a 340m stretch under busy central streets. Launch and reception pits, 100m apart, are dug down to the main and – after Thames Water has shut off supplies - the new PE main is inserted inside the old. After flushing and testing the supply can be turned on to the newly inserted main, and individual services connected.

Jim Hale said: “Usually, local shops and businesses would be without water during this entire process. Fortunately though, at Reading they are supplied by a small subsidiary feeder main and so can stay ‘live’ except for the half hour or so when we move them across to our new main.”

A 15m deep shaft is being constructed extremely close to local residents.

Unusually, two Optimise construction partners are working side by side on a flood alleviation project in Abbotts Park Road, Leyton.

While a Clancy Docwra team under site agent Brendan Melody is carrying out the project – designed to end flooding at five properties in High Road Leyton, as well as other properties on Abbotts Park Road and Leigh Road – a Barhale team has been contracted to carry out microtunnelling under Abbotts Park, where an underground storage tank will be constructed.

Open cut techniques are being used to install 300m of new 300mm and 375mm sewer in roads running along three sides of the park. Brendan

Melody said: “However, in order to avoid disrupting access to the large children’s playground and astroturf tennis courts within the park, a tunnel boring machine (TBM) is tunnelling to create 176m of 600mm underground microtunnel from the road to the new tank.

Barhale’s TBM foreman Gary Baldock-Apps said: “The ground conditions four metres beneath the park are quite straightforward for tunnelling.”

Brendan’s team will pile the storage tank perimeter then excavate, to allow for the installation of the precast tank which has been made in Ireland and will be delivered to site in sections. The cofferdam itself will be 45m x 12m x 4.5m deep with the tank sitting inside. The tank itself is a modular tank system made up of over 100 precast elements, as well as some

cast in situ works. It’s the first time this system, from Carlow Precast, has been used on a Thames Water Capital Delivery scheme.

Work began in February and is due to finish late September.

As always, care is being taken to minimise disruption to locals. Brendan said: “We will tie in the new main to the existing network in High Road Leyton during the school holidays.

“Also, we will be planting some trees in the park, and will be donating paint so that the local Friends of the Park group can repaint the park railings.

“We will also disguise the storage tank’s vent pipe by replacing an existing old flagpole in the park with a new custom-made flagpole which incorporates the vent pipe inside it!”

Construction partners work together on flood scheme

Abbotts Park Road

“As always, care is being taken to minimise disruption to locals”

Site agent, Brendan Melody

> Projects


Clancy Docwra and Bahale teams are working alongside each other to complete the flood alleviation scheme in Leyton.

“There is a mix of road, rail and river bridges and our work ranges from replacing the hangars that take the weight of the four or five barrels of the sewer, through to replacing the deck.”General foreman, Barry Airey

> Innovation

15Networks NewsletterCustomers will choose Thames Water because of our performance

Historic bridges get Optimise care package

Nos Bridges

“Every day is different and we just don’t know what the next challenge will be,” says general foreman Barry Airey, summing up working on the NOS Bridges rehabilitation project.

Optimise is working on a multi-million pound programme to ensure a key Thames Water asset from the Victorian era remains in top condition. It is undertaking a maintenance programme to return nine key bridges supporting a 3km stretch of the

Northern Outfall Sewer to top condition once more.

The NOS sewer carries the sewage of three million customers in north London from Hackney to Beckton Sewage Treatment Works in east London, via the Abbey Mills Pumping Station.

It was designed by Joseph Bazalgette after an outbreak of cholera in 1853 and “The Big Stink” of 1858. A massive undertaking, it involved the

construction of huge embankments and several bridges, all hand-dug and hand-built. A 7km section of the Northern Outfall Sewer in east London now forms the Greenway, a public footpath route used by pedestrians and cyclist.

The Optimise team overseeing the work includes contract manager Graham Ryan, site agents Simon Maynard and Neil Simpson, site engineer Daniel O’Reilly, and general foreman Barry Airey.

Barry Airey said: “There is a mix of road, rail and river bridges and our work ranges from replacing the hangars that take the weight of the four or five barrels of the sewer, through to replacing the deck.”

Because of their age and importance, the massive – and relatively fragile - 2.7m diameter iron barrels are carefully monitored, with internal flow meters plus external strain gauges monitoring their condition.

“At the River Lea crossing, for instance, we have lifted part of the deck, exposing the tops of these wrought iron barrels for the first time in over 150 years. We will replace the hangars, corroded rivets and some girders, and then create a new reinforced concrete deck in place of the steel troughing presently in use.

“While working under the bridge, we work from a flat-bottom barge in the river, wearing life jackets, with a safety boat always in attendance.”

The project is scheduled to complete in March next year.

Top: The deck of the River Lea bridge has been removed to enable the sewer hangars to be replaced.

Above: Working on the River Lea bridge - Gary Garner and Jonny Duncan, with Joey Duncan in the safety boat.

Contracts manager Paul MacCarthy cycled 240 miles in three days to support friend and work colleague Shaun Doherty, and raise funds for cancer charities.

Shaun was diagnosed with Hodgkinson Lymphoma at the age of 24, and the ride was organised by his friends. Paul was one of 30 who cycled from Galway to Clonmany, Donegal – Shaun’s home town.

Paul said: “That route covers some of the hilliest parts of Ireland. None of those who took part is in a cycling club and many, myself included, had to go and buy a bike in order to take part.”

All the money raised by the ride goes straight to charity and there is still time to make a donation at www.mycharity.ie/event/paul_maccarthys_event

Optimise won a Gold Utility Contractor Award in the City of London Considerate Constructors (CCS) Awards, for achieving consistently good results in delivering VMR

The Award covers both Developer Services and Victorian Mains

Replacement (VMR). The VMR team also picked up a Communications Award for its work in Basinghall Street, where it delivered exceptional communication with adjacent businesses, accurate and up to date information on-street, and works that fitted around the needs of others.

The Optimise awards were received by Peter Stone, Pat McMahon, John Chambers, Paul Sylvester and Joe Alves.

Ride to raise funds for cancer charities

Success at City of London CCS

Paul’s Charity Ride

London Award

Calling all volunteers! Optimise needs rowers who are strong in the arm – and perhaps weak in the head! – to take part in this year’s Thames Water ‘Rafter Party’ Raft Race to raise money for WaterAid.

The light-hearted race will take place on Thursday July 24, when fancy-dressed participants will race the rafts they have constructed from Reading Rowing Club by Caversham Bridge, downstream to Fry’s Island, and then back to the Club.

Each raft can have a maximum of six persons, of which at least two must be of the opposite sex, and funds for Water Aid are raised via private and corporate sponsorship.

The team raising the most sponsorship money will win a prize, and prizes

will also be awarded to the first three finishers, the best fancy dress, the best raft and the least sporting behaviour.

Thames Water is now in its final year of a four year project to raise £2

million for WaterAid, half of which will be spent in four adopted towns in Bangladesh.

Contact Erica Fairhurst if you would like to take part in this year’s event, either as a rower or to cheer on the team.

Thames Water annual fundraising event

> People


Raft Race

NETWORKS EDITORIAL & PRODUCTION TEAMEDITORS: Erica Fairhurst, Optimise communications manager, Tel. 01189 251755

Ken Harrison, Tel. 07801 649045

DESIGN & PRODUCTION: Anthony Hughes, MWH, Tel. 01925 845000

Contact Us: If you have any comments or suggestions for the Networks Magazine or would like to contribute, please email [email protected]

Networks is printed on recycled paper

Supporting Shaun – Paul MacCarthy is in the foreground in red glasses.

http://www.mycharity.ie/event/paul_maccarthys_event

http://www.mycharity.ie/event/paul_maccarthys_event

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networks summer 2014

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