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Award winning Thanet sewer and storage scheme reaches completion

Civil Engineering

We are extremely pleased to announce that this scheme in Ramsgate, Kent – to rehabilitate and create more than 20km of new sewers and storage, plus 96 deep manholes – has been completed on programme and within budget. The £24 million scheme has met the AMP5 regulatory output to improve the sewer network in the Thanet area,and is the first phase of an £85 million improvement scheme to be completed over the next ten years.

Commenting on this achievement, Senior Contract Manager Denver Knight said, “Our success has been largely down to the team that was put together to deliver this unique project. The scheme demanded that we think ‘outside the box’ in terms of Health and Safety, customer focus and construction method – and the team have excelled at doing just that, with a positive can-do attitude. This scheme is something to be really proud of, for everyone who worked on it.” One of the major successes of the scheme was the use of a structural UV liner, which Clancy Docwra proposed and presented at tender stage. This method removed the need to fill the voids with costly grout, which would have presented huge problems in terms of customer impact, cost, lorry movements and pumping arrangements.

Contract Manager Alan Skipper also added, “The lining method proposed was a first in the industry. Along with our chosen specialist McAllister Bros, we went to visit the lining manufacturers in Germany – to carry out a full testing regime, and to ensure the liner could withstand both falling debris and curing against uneven walls, whilst also keeping shape in the adit floor. The results of the tests, and a piece of pipe placed in a replication of the adit, formed part of the CD presentation.”

Denver Knight continued, “This solution inevitably played a big part in us being awarded the scheme as it reduced programme time, and reduced exposure of the workforce to a potentially harmful environment. It also meant there was no longer a need to place grout or concrete that could have been harmful to the water course.”

One of the key goals of this scheme, as with all our schemes, was to ensure that everyone went home safe, every day, for the life of the project – with zero accidents. The project posed many challenges to maintaining good Health and Safety, with the highest risks being due to working at depths of 10 metres, the atmospheric conditions and the weather.

The project was completed with an exemplary Health and Safety achievement, and recorded the following outcomes – which were accumulated over the life of the project, with over 100 employees on site at times;

This scheme has already won awards for:

– Safety Award at the National Joint Utilities Group awards (NJUG) 2015

– First place award for large renovation project at the UK Society of Trenchless Technology Awards (UKSTT) 2015.

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