Thames Water Project Earns Honors for Black & Veatch
Black & Veatch of Redhill, United Kingdom, has won two categories of the Institution of Civil Engineers’ (ICE) London Merit Awards, the city's highest honor for civil engineering excellence, according to a March 25 press release.
The company is principal contractor on the Hampton Advanced Water Treatment Work Rapid Gravity Filtration Remodeling Project and is also responsible for detailed design, construction, and commissioning services.
The works supplies one-third of London’s drinking water; the upgrade project was awarded both the ICE London Merit Award for Conservation and the ICE London Merit Award for the Greatest Contribution to London. The awards celebrate outstanding civil engineering achievement, innovation, and ingenuity by companies, organizations, and individuals in London.
“Receiving these awards from a highly accredited body such as the ICE is recognition of the commitment, cooperation, and close working relationship between the team, the client, and other stakeholders,” said Andrew Greenway, contracts manager for Black & Veatch.
Robert Sharpe, chair of the judging panel commented, “The recipients of the ICE London Merit Awards 2009 have excelled in delivering projects which combine a commitment to innovation, creativity, and social value with a culture of safety and sustainability. I congratulate them all for demonstrating the important contribution that civil engineers make to London.”
Greenway observed that, “Sustainability is one of the key features of the Hampton Remodeling Project. The remodelling of 70-year-old filters, rather than adopting the original new build solution, significantly reduced the environmental impacts associated with the construction of a new plant of this capacity.”
Other aspects of the work that reduced the project’s environmental impact included harvesting and chipping of 14 kilometers of unplasticised polyvinyl chloride piping and 92,000 polypropylene nozzles for reuse in the plastics industry and 800-tons of waste concrete that was crushed and reused as hardcore in construction.
Mark Bulpett, Thames Water project manager said, “Working closely with Thames Water Engineering and Operations, Black & Veatch delivered the project under budget and ahead of program, with minimal interruption to works production. It was a brilliant effort by all.”
Before remodeling the existing filters and infrastructure to modern standards, the filters needed to be backwashed every day to remove accumulated debris. With the new improved filter design and enhanced backwashing capability, this requirement has been extended to two days or longer. These improved run times mean the operational energy use of the refurbished plant also has been enhanced.