Ferrovial Construction and BeMo Tunnelling will work in joint venture to design and build a 2.2km-long cable tunnel underneath the Thames between Grain and Tilbury.
The existing Thames Cable Tunnel between Tilbury and Gravesend is more than 50 years old and is coming to the end of its useful life and will be replaced by the new tunnel to reinforce the local electricity network.
Completion of the contract, Ferrovial’s first for National Grid, is expected in the first quarter of 2029.
The project is part of a broader programmes of infrastructure upgrades and reinforcements planned by National Grid as part of The Great Grid Upgrade.
Ferrovial BeMo JV will construct a 2.2km high-voltage (400kv) cable tunnel, with 35-metre deep shafts (15-metre and 12-metre diameter respectively), headhouses and cable sealing end (CSE) compounds.
One of the technologies to be used on the scheme is a Herrenknecht vertical shaft sinking machine (VSM). The VSM technology allows for simultaneous excavation and installation of the final lining from the surface, significantly reducing construction time, minimising environmental impact and improving safety. The VSM can be used under groundwater, making it ideal for the Grain to Tilbury project.
This will only be the second time that this method is used in the UK. The first was on the Siriuis potash mine at Woodsmith in the North York Moors in 2019. However, Ferrovial’s 15-metre diameter shaft will the widest for VSM anywhere in the world to date. The previous record diameter is nine metres.
Ferrovial Construction's UK tunnelling track record includes the Thames Tideway Tunnel and the Northern Line extension to Battersea (both as part of FLO JV with Laing O’Rourke), the Silvertown Tunnel (as part of Riverlinx CJV with Bam Nuttall and SK Ecoplant), (FLO JV), and three contracts on Crossrail/the Elizabeth Line (in the BFK joint venture with Bam and Kier.
BeMo was part of the BBMV joint venture, with Balfour Beatty and Morgan Sindall, that worked on Crossrail. It was also a junior partner of the consortium picked to build the A303 Stonehenge tunnel (alongside FCC Construcción and WeBuild) before that project was scrapped last summer.
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
