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AECOM appointed lead designer on £45m Bristol sewer

AECOM has announced it has secured a contract with J Murphy & Sons as lead designer for the North Bristol Relief Sewer, a new 6.5km tunnel which will form part of a long-term sewerage strategy for the next 100 years.

The project being undertaken for Wessex Water will reduce flood risk and increase stormwater storage capacity to accommodate ongoing and future developments in Bristol and South Gloucestershire.

The 6km pipeline will be built under the M5 motorway and Network Rail's Henbury Loop freight railway, and will therefore bring about many complexities. It will link to the new Frome Valley relief sewer Wessex Water have just built from Frampton Cotterell to Bradley Stoke. Most of the tunnel will be built deep underground with some sections reaching as much as 30-metres below ground level.

Construction is expected to start towards the end of 2019 and will take approximately two and a half years to complete. 

Steve Woodrow, head of Tunnelling for Europe at AECOM, said: “Tunnelling under the M5 and operational rail services, and connecting with the existing sewage system, this complex tunnel is a vital part of Wessex Water’s strategy to future-proof the sewerage network for communities in Bristol. AECOM brings its expertise on a number of major water infrastructure tunnelling schemes to the project, including Tideway and Deephams Sewage Treatment Works.”

AECOM is working with J Murphy & Sons, who were appointed principal contractor for the £45m project earlier this year, on the scheme’s outline design. As lead designer, AECOM will deliver the detailed designs for the project, with construction due to start in late 2019. 

The global infrastructure firm will be providing civil, hydraulic, mechanical, electrical and structural design services, as well as environmental consultancy for the scheme.

If you would like to contact Ryan Tute about this, or any other story, please email rtute@infrastructure-intelligence.com.