By Rose Bell
Following that the 25-tonne TBM broke through to the new stormwater storage tank last week, preparing the way for 620m of a new, large diameter sewer for NI Water, tunneling process was completed by BSG Civil Engineering for a wastewater upgrade in Portadown, Northern Ireland.
As an important part of a major NI Water investment to increase capacity, the new 1500mm diameter pipe is laid 8m beneath the ground level.
In order to decreasing disruption in the area and completing the installation of the new pipe quickly, tunnel digging was employed and NI Water said traditional open-cut methods would have taken almost a year to complete, whereas open-cut is only being used to tie into the existing network.
According to Northern Ireland Water’s director of infrastructure delivery, Tzvetelina Bogoina: “It had been a challenging element of the project and was only made possible by the support of local businesses and council who accommodated tunneling pits on their land.
NI Water is grateful to these landowners as well as local businesses and the wider public for their ongoing patience as we deliver this important project to protect the environment and support growth in the area.
I’d like to pay tribute to the project team from McAdam and BSG, as well as their subcontractors from B&W Tunnelling, for their unfaltering efforts to complete this major element of work.”
Reducing the risk of out-of-sewer flooding in the area, the new 20m diameter stormwater storage tank is a 9m-deep tank and has a 1.5 million litre capacity.
