Key Facts
• The UK's largest water and wastewater services provider
• 13.6 million customers and 5,000 employees
• Supplies 2,600 million litres of drinking water per day
• Treats 2,800 million litres of sewage per day
• 43,500 miles of sewer, 2,530 pumping stations and 800,000 manholes
Thames Water has been an active member of NISP since 2006 and during that time has been involved in 12 complete synergies. Many of the matches involve third party contractors working on Thames Water contracts and have collectively diverted over 436,000 tonnes of excavated material from landfill and reduced CO2 produced as a result of Thames Water contracts by more than 47,500 tonnes.
Much of the early work was facilitated through NISP working with the company’s contractors on a number of general utility excavations across London and the South East. A key example of this saw J. Browne introduced to NISP member Keanes Environmental at a NISP workshop for companies working in the utilities and energy sectors back in February 2007. The meeting fuelled a synergy that saw Keanes installing its portable patented ‘Keanemixer’ unit on J. Browne’s depot site to reprocess material excavated from a Thames Water utility works contract. The material generated through this process, Trenchmod, was then reused back on the site.
Having benefited from the environmental gains achieved through a number of synergies with its contractors, Thames Water asked the NISP team to explore recovery and reuse opportunities for materials excavated as part of its London Victorian mains replacement works.
More than 60 per cent of London's water mains are over 100 years old. The original cast-iron mains are at high risk of leakage so the company is carrying out works targeting those areas that house the older pipes to replace with new plastic ones that are more durable and flexible. Substantial quantities of clay and spoil material were being generated as a result of the works, the majority of which had the potential to be recovered and reused.
Working closely with Thames Water’s Head of Waste, Alan Young, the NISP team under Robert Spencer’s leadership brokered a complex, four-way, synergy that sees the material from the old pipe works project being reused to inject new life into an old deposition site near Chatham Docks. Once reprocessed, the material is transported down the Thames by barge and deposited at Hoo Island ready to be used to develop the infrastucture of the new facility.
This synergy has now been active for three years and demonstrates how the positive impact of NISP’s work continues to accrue environmental and economic benefits many years after the initial collaboration is made. In this case, the NISP link has helped to divert over 230,000 tonnes of excavated material away from landfill and cut carbon emissions by more than 27,000 tonnes. This project was also acknowledged as an exemplar in the 2008 CIWM Awards for Environmental Excellence, short-listed in the category for best sustainable product use.
Although many of the synergies facilitated by NISP deal with identifying recovery and reuse methods for material unearthed through its contracts, the diverse range of NISP members and their respective requirements sees the team also looking at projects that benefit the wider community.
One such project has seen Thames Water being drafted in by NISP to help with a Growing Gardens Project in Merton, South West London. The scheme involved renovating a disused area of land into a community garden with a purpose built centre for members of the community. The building has a very original design and reclaimed materials were to be employed in the construction wherever possible. Through NISP, Thames Water donated 350 metres of plastic piping from their repair and maintenance programme for the roof of the building. The piping has been used to construct the supporting struts for roof tiles.
Alan Young, Head of Waste at Thames Water, said: “NISP’s approach provides an excellent means for companies like Thames Water to identify and access methods of recovery, reprocessing and reuse for a variety of material waste streams from our projects. However, being a part of the NISP network also means we’re able to tap into the UK’s best expertise on industrial waste streams and innovation and research.”
“The future of NISP’s work with Thames Water is likely to rest on bringing new value to the company through the introduction of innovative processes and new technology,” explains Robert Spencer. “An example is the new working relationship being developed between Thames Water and the University of Reading following introductions made at our South East Construction Innovation workshop.” The University of Reading is now in active dialogue with Thames Water and hopes to collaborate and help address their R&D needs by working with experts in research and innovation.
