The Wolsingham Growth STW project has been nominated for the CENE Project of the Year, due to the improved performance, notable productivity gains and associated savings realised. This has been achieved through:
• The use of new technology;
• The implementation of off-site and sustainable construction methods and;
• Exemplar collaboration and team integration between the Client Northumbrian Water, the Tilbury Douglas-Wood Delivery Team and the wider supply chain.
Tilbury Douglas’s dedication to the use of off-site build technology and Northumbrian Water’s support to embrace innovation resulted in an offline STW being constructed using an offsite build methodology and sustainable materials, both rarely seen before within the Water Industry. The new works were designed to fit within the existing Wolsingham STW site footprint, meaning the local environment was protected and no additional greenfield land was required to be purchased for the £6.023m improvement works.
Originally tendered and awarded based upon traditional reinforced concrete structures; we collaboratively embraced the use of innovative technology across several work packages that resulted in a programme reduction of over four months and a Client saving of circa £1 million pounds. This was an even more notable achievement given that the Project was delivered throughout the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and required adherence to strict safe social distancing constraints during construction. The earlier completion also allowed Northumbrian Water’s Customers, within the catchment areas of Wolsingham and Thornley, to benefit from the new treatment works; providing improved water quality levels to the benefit of people, the environment and wildlife that meet current and future generation needs.
The reduction in programme duration directly impacted the person hours on site, reducing them significantly from an anticipated 65,000 hours to approximately 31,600. This helped to reduce the potential for on-site H&S incidents, and we are pleased to proudly confirm that there were zero accidents on site.
Lessons learnt from the use of this new technology and now proven off-site build solutions will be adopted by NWL for use on their AMP7 Framework. Following approval being received from NWL, the new best practice has already been taken forward by Tilbury Douglas and shared with their Teams working on other Water Frameworks across the UK. These tangible legacies stem from the great teamwork and partnership working established throughout the whole supply chain.
