The BNM Alliance (consisting of Barhale plc and North Midland Construction PLC) were visited on site last week by Liv Garfield, CEO of Severn Trent Water.

She was joined on the Bleddfa site by Dennis Curran, chairman of Barhale and Robert Moyle, executive chairman for North Midland Construction PLC to view the progress of the tunnelling aspect of the Elan Valley Aqueduct (EVA) scheme, which is a key project within Severn Trent’s AMP 6 programme of works.

After being welcomed by the project team, the group were taken through a presentation of progress on the scheme followed by a trip through the newly constructed tunnel to see the miners at work.  The Alliance has been working on a production rate of 3 metres per day with approximately 110 metres of construction completed.  When finished, the newly constructed tunnel will reach 1.8km in length and will replace part of the existing aqueduct.

The local community may have noticed activity above ground at the Reception Pit site towards Monaughty. The 240 metre access road off the A488 has been completed, with 25,000m3 of rock and soil moved in a cut-and-fill design to provide the level working area required by the team.  The southern edge of the working area required a 14 metre high elevation which has seen a vast retaining wall built from reinforced soil in 45 engineered layers.

Stuart Proud, Managing Director of NMCNomenca, the delivery division for North Midland Construction, commented:  “The Alliance team are working tirelessly to ensure that the local community are kept informed of the works, building positive relationships and communicating updates as work progresses.  We’ve had incredibly positive feedback from residents on our presentations and we are keeping them informed every step of the way.”

The EVA is over 73 miles long, and delivers over 300 million litres of water each day to Frankley Water Treatment works on the outskirts of Birmingham, serving over 1.2 million customers in Birmingham and surrounding areas. It was built over 100 years ago to serve a growing population in the city.  The proactive maintenance programme of works will take 4 years to complete.