Lockdown adds months and millions to Tideway

Progress on London’s super sewer Thames Tideway has been delayed by nine months because of the impacts of coronavirus, which forced parent company Bazalgette to pause work earlier in the year.

The company said the delay is expected to add £233 million to the cost of the project, bringing the total to £4.133 billion.

The sewer was anticipated to be completed in 2024 but the company now expects handover to be in the first half of 2025.

An Ofwat spokesperson said: “When the lockdown came, Tideway acted to find a pragmatic balance between protecting water customers, while safeguarding workers and the wider community. We are investigating the impact of Covid-19 on the project, which might mean a modest increase in cost. But, if Tideway hadn’t acted when it did, it is likely that the cost and impact on water customers would have been significantly higher than otherwise.”

All but essential work was paused on all sites across the capital in March. Work began to resume in May but with fewer staff and reduced teams to adhere to public health recommendations and social distancing rules.

The company is in discussions with Ofwat about a package of measures to mitigate the financial impact of the delays and what that means to Thames Water customers.

Billpayers were predicted to pay £20-£25 per customer for the project.

Prior to pausing work the project had passed its halfway point with excavation finished on 18 shafts and 14km of tunnelling complete.

In April 2019 a cost increase of 8 per cent was revealed after the initial phase of work had been completed, at that stage costs to bill payers were expected to remain within the original projection.

Tideway, the company delivering the tunnel, is financed by Bazalgette Tunnel Limited, which in turn is owned by a consortium of investors. The cost will be spread across water bills of customers who benefit from the finished super sewer.