Operator focus
Tideway’s tunnel vision All around the UK there are many major construction and engineering projects that require the help and support of FORS members. Steve Banner finds out about one of the biggest taking place in London
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The project has got 24 work sites, three of which feature deep shafts down which have been lowered big, heavy tunnel boring machines
ransport operators with FORS Silver accreditation are making a major contribution to a massive construction project that will benefit the UK’s capital. Representing a £4.2bn investment and stretching for 20 miles under London, the Tideway Tunnel is a super sewer designed to prevent raw effluent from being discharged into the River Thames. “The current sewage system isn’t big enough to cope with the population’s waste,” explains Gordon Sutherland, Traffic And Road Logistics Manager at Tideway. “The aim with the new tunnel is to intercept the overflow, thereby helping to clean up the river.” Construction began in 2016 and should finish by the end of 2022, with a further two years required to commission the project. Once it is completed the giant sewer, which will follow the line of the Thames, will run from Acton Storm Tanks in Ealing in the west all the way to Abbey Mills Pumping Station in Newham in the east. The scheme also includes two connection tunnels. “The project has got 24 work sites, three of which feature deep shafts down which have been lowered big, heavy tunnel boring machines,” explains
Sutherland. “Some of the machines are up to 100m long.” As a result, a lot of soil has to be removed. “Fortunately 11 of the work sites are close to the Thames, which means we can use barges,” he says. “As a consequence we’ve been able to reduce what would have been one million truck movements by 72 per cent, to 280,000.”
London logistics
While that is a substantial cut, it still means a lot of loads for tipper operators to handle. The construction work has been subcontracted to three joint-venture contracting consortiums which, among other things, are responsible for procuring transport. “We have a set of contract requirements that mean that any operator involved with the project must meet FORS Silver as a minimum,” Sutherland says. “That applies to everybody – including owner-drivers – in order to reduce any risk to vulnerable road users.” Compliance is not a nice-to-have option, Sutherland stresses. It is a legal requirement in line with the project’s Development Consent Order and is also in line with the Construction Code of Practice. Although Silver is mandatory, the approach taken is not inflexible. “If a company happens to be FORS Bronze then it is given six months to get up to Silver and FORS will help it to do so,” states Sutherland.
Faith in FORS
A long-standing FORS supporter, Sutherland was involved with the scheme when it was first established. He is a member of the FORS Governance and Standards Advisory Group (GSAG) and of the FORS Executive Group, which he chaired for two years. Specifying FORS Silver accreditation obliges operators to investigate and analyse any road traffic incidents and near misses that involve their vehicles to prevent recurrence and minimise road risk. They must also conduct and comply with a noise impact assessment at operating centres and sensitive locations to minimise the effect of noise on
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The Standard Summer 2021
