The Thames Tideway Tunnel is the biggest privately financed infrastructure project in Europe, and when completed, will substantially reduce the millions of tons of untreated sewage that currently overflows from London’s Victorian sewers into the tidal River Thames.

As the largest project ever undertaken in the UK water industry, the 25km tunnel will be 7.2 metres in diameter and will reach depths of up to 65 metres. Construction on the project started in 2016 and involves 24 work sites across London. The tunnelling will be finished in 2023, and currently the final two tunnel boring machines are cutting their way under the capital city. The project will be completed and commissioned by 2025.

The presentation will commence with a history of sewers in London and the recent problems with overspills from CSOs introducing the Tunnel as the most effective solution. Not only will it deal with some of the engineering challenges but more importantly all the aspects of planning and consultation with stakeholders leading on to discussion of the delivery model including the formation of a new regulated infrastructure provider under the Flood and Management Act 2010 and regulatory issues. Benefits of the project will be discussed as well as the cost. There is also a section on lessons learnt on developing and running very large infrastructure projects.

About the Speakers

Phil Stride was Head of the Thames Tideway Tunnel for nearly eight years. He then worked as a Director for Tideway from 2015 to 2020. Tideway was created to finance and deliver the Thames Tideway Tunnel. Phil is a civil engineer and has a wealth of experience in managing both wastewater and clean water projects in the UK and internationally. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Phil had a book published by The History Press in 2019 entitled ‘The Thames Tideway Tunnel – Preventing Another Great Stink’, which is the story of the tunnel, from the very start to breaking ground and all the steps along the way.

Andrew Triggs Hodge OBE studied Water Science, Policy and Management MSc in its inaugural year, 2004. He moved on to supporting Thames Water with mainly community facing projects, and community engagement events around their major projects. Between 2005 and 2016 Andrew became a highly decorated rower with three Olympic Gold Medals. Upon retiring Andrew took a position with Tideway, the £4B Super Sewer project in London, where he developed a long lasting community engagement project to highlight the benefits of the investment after construction is complete and the tunnel is operational.