By Lynda Myer
In order to enabling the construction of part of London’s Tideway, an acoustic shed with 17.5m-hight was built to decrease noise and dust pollution at Tideway’s site at Greenwich Pumping Station that allowed work to advance as quickly as possible with tunneling 24 hours a day, and currently it is being dismantled after years of tunneling work in Greenwich.
Linking Greenwich to the main super sewer, the 4.5km connection tunnel was equipped by insulated acoustic panelling to continue with minimal disruption to local residents.
The location of this acoustic shed, seen from the air, was next to the Greenwich Pumping Station and built during Sir Joseph Bazalgette’s sewer network in 1865
Now, after nearly five years of underground work and the completion of the tunneling work, the shed is being dismantled.
According to Antoine Cheval, the project manager overseeing the works for Tideway: “Removing the shed from site was a major milestone for Tideway’s work at Greenwich Pumping Station. Every single pre-cast concrete segment to create the tunnel as well as every inch of excavated spoil has come through this structure over the past few years.”
He also added: “To be finally taking it down is a huge achievement and brings the project and London closer than ever to its ultimate goal of protecting the River Thames from sewage pollution.”
With almost 20m wide and 60m long and a footprint of around 1,200m2, this shed is now going to have a second life following its reassembly at a subcontractor’s site in Rainham, Essex.
The scheduled date for testing the new sewer system by Tideway is next year, while diverting live storm flows of untreated sewage away from the River Thames for the first time. Additionally, time of inaugurating this system will be 2025 and following completion, 95% of sewage pollution into the River Thames in London will be prevented.
