West Huntspill Water Recycling Centre

The West Huntspill WRC Bathing Water Improvements formed part of this programme and was generated by the Environment Agency directive to improve bathing water quality in the local catchment.

The scheme consisted of the following elements for which we were Principal Contractor and provided civil engineering expertise: –

Activated sludge plant—60m x 16m x 7m
RAS-SAS pumping station caisson shaft
RC ASP feed pump station
Misc. RC structures i.e. MCC, transformer slabs
Buried pipelines and ducts inc. ‘live’ and shutdown connections
Concrete roads, footpaths and site finishes to access the proposed plant.

As a water industry specialist with almost 40 years of experience, we have a detailed understanding of operational need and aim to minimise disruption and risk to consent. The site remained operational throughout the construction period and the work was controlled to ensure a safe working environment for not only the construction team but the operators.

LCE were engaged to undertake Early Contractor Involvement on a potentially challenging scheme.

The scheme required engagement with a large number of stakeholders including the designers, the framework M&E partner, local residents and Wessex Water operations. Envolve together with the scheme designer SWECO and Wessex Water (WECS) jointly developed the scheme from the optioneering stage, through to detailed design and into construction.

Envolve worked closely with the design partner to review constructability and the most suitable solution for the various structures to be constructed as part of the scheme including in-situ or precast construction for the ASP lanes, bottom-up or top-down caisson shaft for the RAS/SAS pumping station. The result was a solution that achieved results in every element of Safety, Quality, Time & Cost—our underlying business ethos.

Envolve worked closely with the Wessex Water environmental team to deliver a scheme rated as having a high environmental/planning sensitivity. The WRC is adjacent to Severn Estuary Special Protection Area (SPA) and Bridgwater Bay Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and National Nature Reserve (NNR); therefore significant up-front planning was required prior to commencement.

We also worked with the various stakeholders to develop a Material Management Plan that was in accordance with the CL:AIRE principles.

Our strategy is to deliver in-house, utilising the experience of our long-term workforce but also recognise that our established Supply Chain adds value for specific tasks

Including:

PC & SWT driven piling
FRC Structures (Split with direct delivery)
Shaft construction
Temporary works design
Demolition of existing structures

The Construction phase of the scheme is on target for completion during December 2020, in advance of the EA regulatory output date at the end ofMarch 2021.

Whilst focus remains on completion of the core civils scope during Summer 2020, the scheme has offered demonstration of our best practices including a fully documented Inspection & Test Plan, Health & Safety initiatives and collaborative working with the M&E partner and other stakeholders.