By Rose Bell
The contract for construction of the Valby cloudburst tunnel in Copenhagen was awarded to an MT Højgaard Danmark and Eiffage Group joint venture.
The responsibility of advancing this DKr490m (£55.8m) contract will be up to Greater Copenhagen utility company Hofor and local utility company Frederiksberg Forsyning.
As one of the 10 districts of Copenhagen municipality, the Valby and the western part of Frederiksberg is due to be protected by this tunnel, against flooding caused by cloudbursts and high rainfall.
Considering that the process of collecting overflow water from the sewer system will be done until the water can be pumped to the sewage treatment plant, the tunnel is slated to support the sewage network. In cases of extreme rain, water may also be conveyed directly into Kalveboderne through outlets in Gåsebæksrenden and Enghave Kanal through a pumping station.
With capacity to manage 100-year rain events, this 2.4km-long bored tunnel will have an internal diameter of 3.4m.
Being among the largest of several wastewater projects planned for Frederiksberg and Copenhagen, this tunnel will have a 30,000m3 capacity.
Work will start this year with four construction sites and shafts, and the project is scheduled for handover to the utility companies in 2028.
According to MT Højgaard Danmark CEO Carsten Lund: ” An assignment of this scope is very demanding for the contractor, and MT Højgaard Danmark and our partner Eiffage Infra-Spezialtiefbau have both the experience and competencies from comparable projects completed over the years. We really look forward to completing this task as well.”
In order to protecting eastern Frederiksberg and Vesterbro from flooding, digging of the Kalvebod Brygge tunnel was completed by TBM Sigrid in April.
Stretching from Kalvebod Brygge to Halmtorvet in Copenhagen,the 702m excavation was completed by TBM Sigrid as part of the 1.3km-long Kalvebod Brygge Skyburst tunnel, which runs from Gammel Kongevej to Kalvebod Brygge and forms a central part of the protection of eastern Frederiksberg and Vesterbro. The determined date for project’s launching is 2026.
