Barhale secure contract for Birmingham Resilience Project

Barhale has been awarded a major contract on Severn Trent Water’s £300M Birmingham Resilience Project on what’s being described as their most ambitious to date.

The project is the biggest in Severn Trent’s AMP6 programme and will see the construction of a new pipeline supply to complement the Elan Valley Aqueduct (EVA) and assist during periods of shutdown for essential maintenance.

The Elan Valley Aqueduct, which has provided most of Birmingham’s water supply for over 100 years, is in need of maintenance work that will require it to be drained for long periods.

The Birmingham Resilience Project will provide an alternative water supply, as the maintenance work is undertaken and for a period of up to 50 days once every two years.

It will also be utilised in an event of an emergency resulting in the need to shutdown the Elan Valley Aqueduct. The water would be shifted via a 25km pipeline from a new river intake at Lickhill to Frankley Water Treatment Works in Birmingham, which is also due to undergo upgrade work to accommodate the new source of water.

Barhale’s ‘Raw Water’ contract includes a 25km long pipeline and intake pumping station, with work due to be finished by October 2018 prior to any interface works needed with the separate ‘Treated Water’ contract at Frankley.

The contract was awarded after Barhale were able to demonstrate innovation and efficiencies to be chosen for the project. The overall project will complete in March 2020.

Senior leaders from both companies signed the contract at the Severn Trent Water’s head office.

Dennis Curran, Barhale’s Company Chairman commented: “We will work closely with Severn Trent Water to ensure the goal of ‘Investing efficiently for our customers and leaving a legacy to be proud of’ is achieved on the Birmingham Resilience Project.”

Liv Garfield, CEO of Severn Trent, said: “This project is all about securing the fantastic legacy the Victorians left us in the Elan Valley Aqueduct and creating a more resilient water supply for 1.2 million of our customers in and around Birmingham.

“We aim to invest efficiently so we can continue to deliver the lowest household water bills in England & Wales and we’re delighted to be working with Barhale to help us achieve that.”

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