Civil engineering and infrastructure specialist Barhale has secured a second high profile flume construction commission on the Thames Tideway Tunnel.

The Ferrovial Construction and Laing O’Rourke (FLO) joint venture, the principal contractor for the 12.7km central section of the 25km Thames Tideway Tunnel, has appointed Barhale to carry out the works at the Blackfriars Bridge Foreshore site. It follows on from the successful delivery of a similar contract at Tideway Central’s Victoria Embankment Foreshore site further west and entails the installation of a flume inside the existing Victorian Low-Level Sewer within the Thames River Wall.

Fabricated by Barhale subsidiary BCS Group, the pipe will be made up of 41 rings of 10 individual steel segments. It will carry the flow of the sewer during construction works and will allow future breakthrough to connect the sewer to the Thames Tideway tunnel.

Filipe Mello, Barhale’s contracts manager at Blackfriars Bridge Foreshore, believes that the award recognises the delivery of the earlier flume installation which saw construction completed ahead of schedule.

“While we undoubtedly took a lot of expertise and experience to the Victoria Embankment site, we also gained a great deal of insight which we will take to Blackfriars,” he said. “This is a challenging project that requires us to work inside the harsh and restrictive live environment of the existing Victorian sewer. It also presents severe logistical considerations. We will have to work at night and with access to the sewer often limited to tight three-hour periods.”

“The flume will be an important step in the continued progress at the Blackfriars Bridge Foreshore site and will help to bring the completion of the wider project to clean up the Thames for future generations a little closer.”

Completion is scheduled for May 2021.