CEEQUAL rating of Very Good for dredging work in the River Lagan - BRE Group
CEEQUAL rating of Very Good for dredging work in the River Lagan
Overview
Design and construction of the new Reading sewage treatment works was undertaken by an alliance consisting of the client Thames Water Utilities Limited, Taylor Woodrow and Black & Veatch. The main drivers for the £80m project was to meet new regulated standards for effluent discharge and sludge disposal in addition to eliminating odour nuisance. The project was awarded a CEEQUAL (now known as BREEAM Infrastructure) rating of Excellent.
About
Thames Water, is responsible for the water supply and waste water treatment in most of Greater London, Luton, the Thames Valley, Surrey, Gloucestershire, north Wiltshire, far west Kent, and some other parts of England.
Background
A comprehensive dredging scheme was undertaken in 1994 which involved dredging of the impounded river and establishment of an incised channel. The dredging project in 2010/2011 was therefore considered a maintenance dredging of the river that involved reinstatement of the 1994 incised channel. All dredged material from the site was disposed of at an off shore disposal site in accordance with a NIEA license.
Doran Consulting were the designers for the project and the contractor was Graham Construction Ltd. As the project related to a maintenance dredging of a river bed with no impact on the river banks there was substantial scoping out particularly in relation to Sections on Land Use, Landscape Issues, Ecology, Historic Environment and Energy and Carbon.
Benefits
The CEEQUAL assessment scored highly in Sections 6 and 8-12. For example, Section 6 water resources and the water environment scored 90%. This high scoring was a result of the protection of the water environment through the monitoring of oxygen levels and prevention of any fuel discharge.
Additionally, section 10 transport scored 91% as traffic impact was minimal due to the decision early on to dispose of dredged material at sea through the use of barges.
