Vital Energi To Build Waste Heat From Power Plant Centre
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the Construction Enquirer.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Waste heat from the nearby £680m North London Waste Authority (NLWA) Energy Recovery Facility will be used to heat homes and businesses in the London Borough of Enfield.
Some of the homes, will be on the 82-hectare Meridian Water development.
We will see more schemes like this.
Major District Heating Scheme to Connect £6bn Meridian Water Development
The title of this post is the same as a press release from Vital Energi.
This is the first three paragraphs.
London’s latest £85m district heating infrastructure is taking shape in Enfield and will be delivered by Vital Energi on behalf of energetik, the energy company owned by Enfield Council.
The new district heating network will accommodate up to 30,000 homes and businesses, including the £6bn Meridian Water development. energetik want to revolutionise the local energy market and improve the reputation of district heating, in a currently unregulated market, to ensure customers receive a quality service.
Vital Energi will design, build, operate and maintain the main energy centre for Meridian Water and install the district heating network over the next 12 years, under a contract worth £15m. This heat network is part of an integrated energy and regeneration strategy in Enfield that will interconnect with energetik’s other networks at Arnos Grove and Ponders End.
The Meridian Water development is certainly going about things in an impressive way.
West Anglia Route Improvement – Enfield Council And Rail Companies
This article in the Barnet and Whetstone Press is entitled Transport Blow To Meridian Water Development.
This is said.
THE council has admitted spending nearly £200,000 on an unsuccessful judicial review into a transport decision that could drastically undermine its vision for the multi-million pound Meridian Water housing development.
In September last year, the Department for Transport told rail companies thinking of bidding for the franchise through Angel Road railway station, in Edmonton, that a successful bid would not have to guarantee a minimum of four trains an hour.
You don’t call for a judicial review lightly and as Enfield lost, I suspect they were none to pleased with the Department of Transport and the various rail companies.
I then found this article on 21st Century Rail, whih is entitled Network Rail needs to get a grip of GRIP.
This is how the article starts.
Network Rail’s infrastructure upgrade process has been severely criticised by one of Enfield Borough’s leading planners.
The Meridian Water project is part of the borough’s wider regeneration plan for the Lea Valley area, which involves re-siting and constructing a new Angel Road station – to be renamed Meridian Water – and installing a third track between there and Stratford.
It then contains a fairly savage attack on Network Rail’s planning process.
The article does include this about plans for the Stratford – Angel Road train service.
It is part of Network Rail’s wider STAR project (Stratford-Tottenham-Angel Road) to increase capacity on WAML (the West Anglia mainline). The third track will run for about five miles; Network Rail is working with the DfT to increase the number of trains to four per hour (tph). Between 2019 and 2024, WAML will be widened to take four tracks and the capacity increased to handle 8tph. If Crossrail 2 is built, capacity will be doubled again to 16tph by 2030.
But it does seem that relations between Enfield Council and Network Rail and the other rail companies could be better.
West Anglia Route Improvement – Meridian Water, Road Traffic And Level Crossings – 1st March 2017
This map from the Meridian Water web site shows the area of Meridian Water outlined in red.
And this Google Map shows the Lea Valley from the North Circular Road in the North almost to Tottenhsm Hale in the South.
Note.
- Tesco and IKEA are in the middle of the Meridian Water site with the West Anglia Main Line and the main North South road to their West.
- The River Lea and the River Lea Navigation Canal pass between the Meridian Water site and the Banbury Reservoir.
With the building of Meridian Water, traffic in the area is only going to get worse.
The main North-South route shown in the second map starts North of Enfield Lock, where it has rather dodgy connections to the M25 and is generally a single carriageway road, all the way to the Tottenham Hale Gyratory, where traffic is heavy at all times.
One problem is going or coming West from this North-South route, as vehicles need to cross the West Anglia Main Line.
Starting from the North, the crossings of the railway are as follows.
- A level crossing at Enfield Lock station.
- A level crossing at Brimsdown station.
- A bridge for the A110
- A bridge at Conduit Lane, just North of the current Angel Road station.
- The North Circular Road, which is not well-connected to the North-South route.
- A bridge at Leeside Road, just South of the proposed site of Meridian Water station.
- A level crossing at Northumberland Park station.
Another bridge over the railway delivers you into the jams at Topttenham Hale.
STAR is currently envisaged to provide a seven-day-a-week services of four trains per hour (tph) between Angel Road and Stratford with calls at Northumberland Park, Tottenham Hale and Lea Bridge stations.
However the current local service up the Lea Valley from Stratford goes to Hertford East and Bishops Stortford stations with a rather erratic stopping pattern at stations North of Tottenham Hale.
So will STAR be based on these services or a separate train turning back at Meridian Water station?
But whatever happens it will increase the number of trains through Northumberland Park station.
It has now been announced in the last few weeks, that the level crossing will be closed.
Drivers wanting to go across the level crossing, following the closure will now do one of the following.
- Go South and over the railway to Tottenham Hale.
- Go North and cross the railway on the Leeside Road bridge.
They could always use the train.
I think the following would help mitigate the loss of the crossing.
- Some road improvement at the junction of Leeside Road and the North-South road.
- A decent pedestrian route between the new Meridian Water station and Glover Drive for Tesco and IKEA.
- The STAR service going North from Meridian Water station, as well as South to Stratford.
Hopefully, it will all be clear by the end of 2018.
Meridian Water Gets Its First Planning Permission
This article in the Enfield Independent is entitled Planning permission given to first batch of Meridian Water homes. This is the start of the article.
Work will soon start on the first homes in a £3.5billion development after getting the planning green light.
Enfield Council’s planning committee has given permission for the first phase of Meridian Water, agreeing to the construction of 725 homes, as well as retail space, play areas, a community centre and a new train station which will have the facilities to include the planned Crossrail 2.
The decision follows the announcement last month of Barratt and SEGRO as developers for the scheme, which the council hope will provide 10,000 homes and 6,700 jobs in Edmonton.
London certainly needs this development with all its houses and a replacement for Angel Road station and I doubt that few will mourn the passing of the industrial wasteland that the area is now.
Before Crossrail 2 – Walthamstow Wetlands
The Walthamstow Wetlands have nothing really to do with Crosrail 2, but like Meridian Water they will have connections and interactions with the railway.
So how will the wetlands interact with Crossrail 2?
This image, which I clipped from this page, shows the layout of the wetlands.
And this is a Google Map of the same area.
There are plans for entrances at Blackhorse Lane by Blackhorse Road station and at Coppermill Lane, just below the pair of Warwick reservoirs at the bottom left of the Google Map. The West Anglia Main Line runs between the reservoirs and Crossrail 2 will probably emerge from its tunnels between these reservoirs and Tottenham Hale station.
I also suspect that some means to get into the wetlands will be provided at Tottenham Hale station, That will probably be walking and bicycle routes,perhaps coupled with a shuttle bus. I do wonder whether the Gospel Oak to Barking Line, which borders the wetlands and passes just to the south of Tottenham Hale station might be brought into the mix. Nothing within the limits of sensible engineering should be ruled out.
After all Waltham Forest Council has obtained £4.4million from the Heritage Lottery Fund and that is a lot of reasons to think, that everybody wants the unique project of the Walthamstow Wetlands to be extremely successful.
Big projects work best from co-operation and not annoying the locals. Crossrail showed with the East-West line that they are masters at pulling it all together and used archaeology to get the locals enthused with the project, I suspect that they will use every opportunity to get the general public and politicians behind Crossrail 2.
I think that we will see Crossrail 2, Meridian Water and the Walthamstow Wetlands working together to develop the Lee Valley into London’s lung.
If
Before Crossrail 2 – Meridian Water
Meridian Water is a large property development in North London which sits in the curve of the North Circular Road between Edmonton and Walthamstow, with the large Tesco and IKEA stores on its Southern boundary and the Edmonton incinerator to the North. Wikipedia describes the current site like this.
The Meridian Water development site is centred 1.2 km south east of the town centre of Edmonton Green. It comprises an area of approximately 0.82 km², 0.72 km² of which is land capable of development.
In economic geography the site consists largely of vacant or ailing industrial/transport use, and in natural geography is characterised by the waterways of the mid-Lea which pass through or beside it to the east: theRiver Lee Navigation, the Lee Diversion, the River Lee Flood Relief Channel, and Pymmes and Salmons Brook.
It is very much a part of North London, that is not doing its best to boost the prosperity of the city. The developers have a £1.5billion plan for the development of the site. This Google Map shows the area.
Most of the site is between the North Circular Road and the various rivers and canals, although a portion is on the north side of the A406. This aerial photograph with the development marked in red comes from this page on the Enfield Council web site.
What has this massive development got to do with Crossrail 2?
Note the loop in the red boundary to the top of the picture. That encloses Angel Road station, which is clearly shown on the Google Map.
Meridian Water needs good transport links and this report in the Enfield Independent describes what Enfield Council and the developers are doing about it.
Enfield Borough Council has named the firm it has chosen to turn Angel Road Rail Station into a ‘thriving’ new hub.
Atkins, a global design and engineering firm, has been chosen to design the new rail and bus terminal, which will see an increased service of four trains per hour.
It is also stated in some place that the station will be renamed Meridian Water.
As Angel Road is on the list of probable Crossrail 2 stations in the Lea Valley, only a stupid developer would not want to have their development directly linked to Crossrail 2 and all the cornucopia of destinations it brings.
I also wonder how much the developers would pay to have the upgraded Meridian Water station, as a terminus, from where trains could turn back under London.