Our sister company and leading supplier of construction products and services, BCS Group, is rapidly building an impressive reputation for bespoke tunnel shield manufacturing after it chalked up another successful solution on the Thames Tideway project.

BCS Group’s fabrications specialists have been collaborating with Barhale’s teams to tackle operational challenges where “off the shelf” tunnel shields are unsuitable for the task in hand. The close working arrangement drew together Barhale’s civil engineering and infrastructure specialism with BCS Group’s design and manufacturing expertise.

Pictured here are three fantastic examples: a custom-built shield that helped to deliver the Southall UTX Reception Shaft Rectification on behalf of tRIIO, the partnership between Skanska and Morrison Utility Services; an innovative collapsible shield for Thames Water’s planned emergency works at Hersham where site and tunnel constraints meant that a conventional shield could not be used; and the tailor-made shield that enabled the team to overcome difficult ground conditions in West London on the construction of the West Putney Storm Relief Combined Sewer Overflow at Barn Elms.

Reg Oakley, BCS Group Fabrications Operations Manager described the team’s continued success as impressive and believes it offers a taste of what is to come.

“While we look back on the recent successes of our fabrications team with pride, I think it is what it means for BCS Group moving forward that is most exciting”, he said.

“Our success as a team is not limited to BCS Group. It reflects the contribution of the whole of Barhale. It adds another dimension to our direct delivery model providing clients with an end-to-end solution from a single source. We see this as a distinct strength of our business”.

BCS Group, part of the Barhale Group, is a privately-owned company first established in 1999.