Thames Tideway Tunnel Site – Abbey Mills Pumping Station
Index Thames Tideway Tunnel Sites Abbey Mills Pumping Station
Abbey Mills Pumping Station is one of Joseph Bazalgette‘s cathedrals of sewage and as it lies at the junction of the Northern Outfall Sewer and the Lee Tunnel to the massive sewage works at Beckton, it has been chosen as a junction, where the Thames Tideway Tunnel meets the existing system.
The official site says this about the works.
Abbey Mills Pumping Station is an existing Thames Water pumping station site.
In our application for development consent this site receives the tunnel from Chambers Wharf and connects the main tunnel to the Lee Tunnel, which will transfer sewage flows to Beckton Sewage Treatment Works.
This Google Earth image shows the area.
Abbey Mills Pumping Station
The Abbey Mills Pumping Station is clearly marked and the white line running across the image beside it is the Greenway, underneath which is the Northern Outfall Sewer.
I can’t expect that the construction work at this site will cause much disruption, especially as since 2010, they have been building the Lee Tunnel and there doesn’t appear to have been too many protests.
Thames Tideway Tunnel Site – Bekesbourne Street
Index Thames Tideway Tunnel Sites Bekesbourne Street
Bekesbourne Street is not a particularly big site. The official site says this about the works in the area in the planning agreement.
In an average year the Holloway Storm Relief combined sewer overflow
(CSO) discharges 7,900m3 of untreated sewage into the tidal Thames at
London Wharf, Limehouse. On the basis that litter tonnages are
proportional to discharge volumes, approximately two tonnes of sewage
derived litter is also discharged from this CSO in an average year.A worksite is required to control the Holloway Storm Relief CSO and divert
flows into the northern Low Level Sewer No.1. These works would avoid
the need to connect the CSO to the main tunnel. The proposed
development site is known as Bekesbourne Street, which is located in the
London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
So this site will be used to stop untreated sewage going into the Thames.
If you look on the Index Page, you’ll see that this site is marked as 22 on the map and the sewer will seem go from here to Abbey Mills via the Limehouse Cut Tunnel.
They also have a map, which shows two work sites, outlined in red and the line of the Holloway Storm Relief Sewer shown in green
Bekesbourne Street
This is a Google Earth image of the local area to a large scale.
The Holloway Sorm Relief Sewer follows the line of Bekesbourne Street, which is the north-south route down the map from Limeshouse station at the top.
The second Google Earth image shows the wider area from the station to the Thames.
Limehouse Station To The Thames
Notice that the Rotherhithe Tunnel goes through the area. These are pictures I took locally.
It strikes me, that quite a bit of time and effort could have been saved, if when they built the Limehouse Link Tunnel in the late 1980s, they had sorted out the Holloway Storm Relief Sewer at the same time. I could see no trace of the sewer, so it must go deep under the road straight under all the new housing into the Thames.
The new scheme, where all the water and sewage goes to Abbey Mills and Beckton must be much better.
Thames Tideway Tunnel – Index
To many the Thames Tideway Tunnel is contentious. But how will it effect London and where will the construction sites be?
This map from the official site shows the route.
Thames Tunnel Route
Obviously, living in Dalston, the main construction is well away from where I live.
I should say that I have heard convincing arguments, as to why the sewer should be built, from both Thames Water and users of the river, who want it cleaned up.
As a non-resident of effected areas, I probably have no right to directly comment, but with my project manager’s hat on I do have a right to comment on the quality of both the whole project and all the smaller ones related to it.
The following lists the names al the construction sites for the Thames Tideway Tunnel.
23 – Abbey Mlls Pumping Station – My Comments
1 – Acton Storm Tanks (Ealing) – My Comments
13 – Albert Embankment Foreshore (Lambeth) – My Comments
3 – Barn Elms (Richmond) – My Comments
24 – Beckton Sewage Treatment Works (Newham) – My Comments
22 – Bekesbourne Street (Limehouse) – My Comments
15 – Blackfriars Bridge Foreshore (City of London) – My Comments
7 – Carnwath Road (Hammersmith and Fulham) – My Comments
17 – Chambers Wharf (Bermondsey) – My Comments
10 – Chelsea Embankment Foreshore (Kensimgton and Chelsea) – My Comments
9 – Cremorne Wharf Depot (Kensingon and Chelsea) – My Comments
19 – Deptford Church Street (Deptford) – My Comments
5 – Dormay Street (Wandsworth) – My Comments
18 – Earl Pumping Station (Deptford) – My Comments
8 – Falconbrook Pumping Station (Wandsworth) – My Comments
20 – Greenwich Pumping Station – My Comments
2 – Hammersmith Pumping Station (Hammersmith and Fulham) – My Comments
12 – Heathwall Pumping Station (Wandsworth) – My Comments
21 – King Edward Memorial Park (Wapping) – My Comments
6 – King George’s Park (Wandsworth) – My Comments
11 – Kirtling Street (Wandsworth) – My Comments
4 – Putney Embankment Foreshore (Wandsworth) – My Comments
16 – Shad Thames Pumping Station (Bermondsey) – My Comments
14 – Victoria Embankment Foreshore (Westminster) – My Comments
The numbers are those of the map of the route.
The following sites also make up the Greenwich Interconnection Tunnel, that is effectively a branch tunnel to bring sewage from Deptford and Greenwich into the main system, through a junction at Chambers Wharf
17 – Chambers Wharf (Bermondsey) – My Comments
18 – Earl Pumping Station (Deptford) – My Comments
19 – Deptford Church Street (Deptford) – My Comments
20 – Greenwich Pumping Station – My Comments
Walking From The Museum Of London To Liverpool Street
I walked today from the Museum of London to Liverpool Street, looking for evidence of Crossrail and the area’s rich history.
Unfortunately, Crossrail has closed the archaeological site at Liverpool Street station, so they can start building the new station. So if you’ve not seen it, then you’ll have to make do with my pictures.
London Wall Place looks to be a quality development, that will sit over Crossrail’s Big Hole in the Barbican. I clipped this picture from their gallery, where it is one of several very informative images.
London Wall Place
From the picture, it would appear that the walkways that have been removed that connected the flats in the Barbican to walking routes to the Bank and the south, are being recreated.
It’s certainly a lot better than the dreadful square office blocks that used to line London Wall, when I lived in the Barbican in the 1970s.
The Heaviest Suicide Note In History
When I first saw the EdStone, I thought Miliband had not only fallen off his trolley, but crashed it in a big way and given himself a serious brain injury.
I have just found this article in the Daily Mail, which has the headline of Do you know where Ed’s stone is? Mail offers reward to person who can tell us where Miliband has hidden ‘heaviest suicide note in history’
Ed Miliband doesn’t have enough common sense to run a whelk stall!
At least the electorate, who on average have a lot more intelligence that Miliband, have consigned him and his leadership of the Labour Party to the dustbin of history.
He may have left the Labour Party in such a state, that no sane and sensible person will ever want to lead it voluntarily.
The Other Big News Of The Past Few Days
With the election hogging the news, some things haven’t been given full coverage by the media.
One is Elon Musks idea of the Powerwall, which is a battery storage device for electricity, described in this article in the Guardian and another piece on uSwitch.
This may all look like an expensive toy or gimmick perhaps with a few specialist applications, but I believe it is a technology that could become commonplace in the future.
The flow is with this device and as my trip on a battery-assisted train at Manningtree showed, btteries are no longer something to power milk-floats.
Using a battery in a modern energy-efficient home or business, which perhaps has a roof covered in solar panels is an interesting way of cutting out paid-for electricity, for a hopefully one-off purchase and installation payment.
I wouldn’t buy one now, as although the Powerwall is deliverable now, improvements in battery and solar panel technology will mean that the systems available in a few years will store and generate more electricity in a more affordable manner. I also suspect, we’ll see replacement window glass units, that can either let light through or capture it for electricity.
We will also see much better control systems, although I suspect the the one Powerwall has is pretty sophisticated.
So I’m hanging back now, but I will be looking to put solar panels on my flat roof in anticipation of these better storage systems.
Musk is right, when he says that energy storage is going to revolutionise the world. But I do think that there will be a host of better or improved ways to do it.
But there is work to do, as this image of south-facing roofs in Ipswich shows, solar panels are notable by their absence.
No Solar Panels
In a few years time, this image will show lots of solar panels.
It is another case of giving the engineers the money to finish the deveopment and householders the right sort of finance for installation, so everybody can realise the dream of a house that doesn’t use any paid-for electricity.
Farage Gets Kicked In The Nigels!
I don’t like anti-immigrant politicians, as if people like Farage had been in charge in the eighteenth century, I wouldn’t exist in my current form, as two of my ancestors arrived then, and would probably have been left to drown if he had.
So it was with great pleasure that I have seen the odious Farage kicked strongly in the Nigels, by the good voters of Thanet South.
Will Nick Clegg Become A European Union Commisioner?
A lecturer in politics at Sheffield Hallam University has just said that Nick Clegg will be the next European Union Commisioner.
The BBC says that the lecturer has form for getting things right.
It sounds like a good idea to me and I think it will happen!
Nick Robinson Has Just Said Ed Balls Is The Cleverest Economist He’s Ever Met
On BBC Breakfast, a few minutes ago, Nick Robinson has just said that Ed Balls is the cleverest economist he’s ever met.
Nick must have met some generally awful ones, if the man who allowed Labour’s left wing philosophy to be put to the electorate, is the best.
A Rum List Of Candidates
When I went to vote today, there were eleven candidates; three from the major parties, one from a one-issue party and an almost complete spectrum from the ultra-left to the far-but-not-ultra right comprising the remaining seven. Some of the last group would have been certified by some dictators and despots of the past.
One of the candidates didn’t even have a cv. Would you vote for someone, who you know nothing about?
I think the result in this constituency is a foregone conclusion, but isn’t it in hundreds of places.
Democracy is a wonderful thing, but it could be improved a lot!
The Anonymous Widower 
