Thames Tideway Tunnel moves £7m Blackfriars Millennium Pier to make way for the “super sewer”
If you frequent Blackfriars you may have noticed its pier moved yesterday.
Well it's all part of the work that's underway for the mammoth Thames Tideway Tunnel; Blackfriars Millennium pier needed to get shifted to prepare for construction of the long-awaited "super-sewer".
The 25km tunnel will tackle the pollution of the tens of millions of tonnes of sewage overflowing into the tidal River Thames every year.
Read more: Thames Tideway Tunnel: Digging deep to avoid the next big stink
The new pier for Thames Clippers users has been built to the eastern side of Blackfriars Railway Bridge and opened yesterday 250m from its old location. Work to move the pier started at the end of last year.
https://twitter.com/TfLRiver/status/792018100359163905
Blackfriars Bridge is also getting a new foreshore under the Tideway project. Here's how the Blackfriars site should look once construction is finished:
Artist impression of the finished Blackfriars site (Source: Tideway)
Andy Alder, Tideway's delivery manager for the central section of the tunnel, told City A.M.: "The new pier at Blackfriars is the first physical clue of our work to build the Thames Tideway Tunnel in the heart of the City of London. With the new pier in position, we are now able to start our main works at Blackfriars to prevent pollution and clean up our river for future generations."
The work was undertaken by VolkerStevin for Tideway, and it included building a new staircase and lift connecting the Embankment and Blackfriars Bridge.
The Thames Tideway Tunnel will intercept sewage from the 34 most polluting combined sewage overflow points, including the Fleet sewer at Blackfriars, before transferring it to Beckton in east London for treatment.
Peter Blake, TfL’s director of service operations, said: “Thanks to Thames Tideway we now have a brand new, purpose built pier at Blackfriars. This is a great development and allows us to berth two boats simultaneously, meaning even more passengers can now use the river. River travel continues to grow in popularity across the capital, and this is another real boost following the extensions to Westminster and Bankside Piers.”