Former Crossrail chief appointed Thames Tideway Tunnel CEO

Former Crossrail programme director, Andrew Mitchell, has been appointed as the chief executive of the Thames Tideway Tunnel delivery organisation.

Mitchell will report to the organisation’s recently appointed chairman, Sir Neville Simms, and lead the development of the new company which will be responsible for the financing and delivery of the tunnel.

Thames Water says the £4 billion project, is urgently required to help tackle the discharges to the River Thames of untreated sewage from London’s overstretched, Victorian sewerage network.

Currently, as little as 2mm of rainfall can trigger a discharge to the river’s tidal stretches through central London.

In March 2014, the Planning Inspectorate is due to conclude a six-month examination of an application for approval of construction work at 24 sites, from Acton in west London to Stratford in the east. Ministers are scheduled to decide whether or not to accept the inspectors’ recommendation in September 2014.

Invitations to tender for the project’s Eastern and Western construction packages have been issued to the market, with the third and final Central package due to follow in April 2014. The award of the construction contracts is scheduled for 2015, with the main tunnel works due to begin in 2016, lasting seven years.

Mitchell, said: “Just like Crossrail, the Thames Tideway Tunnel is essential to the long-term social and economic well-being of the capital and the country.

“Having been closely involved in its establishment at Crossrail, I am particularly looking forward to developing the Tunnelling and Underground Construction Academy at the Thames Tideway Tunnel, ensuring the country has a ready and available pool of engineers capable of meeting the infrastructure challenges the country faces over the next few decades.”