Chelsea Creek

Chelsea, Central London, SW6

Construction of a new 1.5m diameter sewer run and ancillary manholes at depths varying from 6m to 14m in tidal ground. The site is a prestigious residential development in Central London.

We have recently completed this complex deep drainage project as part of St George’s £1bn Chelsea development at Chelsea Creek, Central London. The project comprised of the construction of a number of deep manholes and the installation of approximately 100m of 1500mm diameter concrete pipe.

The works were particularly difficult due to the tidal ground conditions in the area and the relatively high ground water levels. To counter this we came up with a piled coffer dam solution to keep the water out of our excavations. We drove 200m of 14m long sheet piles initially to enable the works and then excavated and constructed our pipe run and manhole works within these temporary works. We also used a number of pumps to keep the working areas clear of water at all times. Other works included tying in to Thames Water’s existing main sewer which was challenging given the extremely wet conditions and disabling various runs of redundant sewer including a section adjacent to a railway which required liaison with Network Rail and Thames Water.

The program on this project was of paramount importance due to the requirement of St George to open up a new section of the site for construction. Despite one of the wettest April’s on record we carried out the contract works in less than 10 weeks. This included managing and delivering a 24 hour connection into the Thames Water Main during a restricted shut down of the Eel Brook sewer at night.