Tunnelling on the 25km London super sewer Thames Tideway has restarted after work was put on hold in March.
Around 1,000 staff are expected to be working on 21 separate sites, including underground tunnelling from Fulham to Acton and tunnelling of the smaller Frogmore Connection Tunnel in Wandsworth.
In recent weeks, Tideway has conducted a series of detailed safety reviews before implementing measures to protect workers and the wider community. The measures fit within the Construction Leadership Council’s (CLC) guidance and official public health advice, and include social distancing and personal travel plans.
The majority of workers will be using private transport, or walking or cycling. Those who are travelling by public transport will be avoiding peak times and following public health guidance. Those who can work from home will continue to do so.
Tideway CEO, Andy Mitchell, said: “It was absolutely right that we paused our activity at the start of the pandemic. Only by planning very carefully what activities are safe are we getting our teams back to work. Our measures have been developed with our workforce and contractors and are being introduced after detailed safety reviews of every one of our sites. The measures mean we are able to get more of our work back up and running, safely, minimising delays to this vital project and contributing to wider efforts to support the UK economy.”
Work on the 25km super sewer, which will run from Acton in west London to Stratford in east London, started in 2016. More than 14km of tunnel has now been constructed.
