Farrans/Atkins Seals £85m Cumbria Pipeline Deal

United Utilities Water has signed a contract with Northern Irish contractor Farrans and joint venture design partner Atkins to deliver a major raw water pipeline project in West Cumbria

The deal for £85.4m will see the pairing design and build a large 13m pipeline from Thirlmere reservoir in the Lake District to Bridekirk.

Its route from the reservoir will loosely follow the direction of A591 northwards through Keswick, passing east of Bassenthwaite, before turning due west towards Bridekirk.

The raw water pipeline forms part of a major 100km pipeline scheme known as the Thirlmere Transfer West Cumbria Water Supplies Project.

The major scheme also entails building a new water treatment works at Pingy Woods, Bridekirk, north of Cockermouth and several pumping stations.

A further treated water trunk main is also proposed from Bridekirk treatment works to Summergrove service reservoir near Whitehaven.

J Murphy & Sons has signed a £1.3m design contract covering its early involvement in this section of the project.

In total, five existing water treatment works will also be decommissioned once the new pipeline is commissioned. These will be at Ennerdale, Cornhow, Quarry Hill, Buttermere and Thirlmere.

A detailed planning application will be submitted in weeks for the water pipeline to Allerdale Borough and Copeland Borough Councils with the aim of starting the major four and a half year project in March 2017.

John Hilton, United Utilities’ programme director, said: “This will give west Cumbria a new drinking supply, which is much more reliable and more capable of meeting the area’s future demands.”

Source: Construction Enquirer

Read More Related Content On This Topic - Click Here