The Infrastructure Podcast: Episode 166

Guest: Roger Bailey, Chief Technical Officer, Tideway and Tom Kinnear, Director, Amey Advisory

The Tideway Tunnel

In this special episode we take a look at the recently completed Tideway Tunnel project now operating beneath London’s River Thames.

Joining me today are two of the minds behind the delivery of this ground breaking project – Roger Bailey, Chief Technical Officer at Tideway and Amey director Tom Kinnear who has been leading the Systems Integrator role on the project for the last few years. 

Lots to talk about because the £4.5 billion tunnel has certainly been turning programme delivery heads as a rare project that has been delivered pretty much on time, to budget and is now operating to expectation. 

And it’s a project that’s not before time,…. because for over 150 years, London’s subterranean drainage and flood management pulse was maintained by the Victorian genius of Sir Joseph Bazalgette. His sprawling underground brickwork was a masterpiece of public health, keeping sewage off the streets and out of the Thames. 

Yet as the city’s population has swelled and rain intensity increased, his system had reached its limit, leaving the River Thames to bear the brunt as overflows from the combined sewage and rain water system regularly overflowed in the river.

The Tideway Tunnel, AKA London’s "Super Sewer", has changed all that and is now fully operational. Stretching 25 kilometers west to east and up to 66 meters beneath the city, it has already prevented some 19.7 million tonnes of sewage from reaching the river. 

Which makes it more than just a tunnel. As former chief executive and project guiding mind Andy Mitchell put it, the project rekindles Londoners love affair with the River Thames. Cleaner water plus new areas of quality riverside public space mean that the public can now embrace the Thames as a positive part of city life. 

But beyond that, the project’s success perhaps represents a revolution in how we deliver national infrastructure, from its pioneering funding model, to the sophisticated digital nervous system that monitors every drop of flow.

The reality is that the project is talked about around the world as having set a new global benchmark for delivery, funding and social impact, with the Tideway company recently recognized by TIME Magazine as one of the world’s most influential businesses. 

So lets hear more ….

The Infrastructure Podcast

All episodes