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Laing O’Rourke JV lands £170m Davyhulme sewage works upgrade

24 Mar 15 United Utilities has appointed the Laing O’Rourke Imtech joint venture as main contractor for a £170m modernisation of Davyhulme wastewater treatment works in Manchester.

Davyhulme wastewater treatment works upgrade
Davyhulme wastewater treatment works upgrade

The modernisation programme involves significant remediation of previously abandoned land, followed by construction of six circular primary settlement tanks (PST) and a large activated sludge plant (ASP) with 10 circular final settlement tanks (FST). 

The Davyhulme treatment plant is the largest in the northwest and serves a population of more than a million people. The upgrade is expected to improve the quality of water entering the Manchester Ship Canal and take 36 months to complete.

Davyhulme is considered to be the site where modern wastewater treatment, specifically the aeration settlement process, was invented more than 100 years ago. The upgrade is setting out to establish a further advance in wastewater treatment, adopting modern design and construction techniques such as building information modelling (BIM) and design for manufacture and assembly (DfMA).

The Laing O’Rourke Imtech JV is supported by consulting engineers Hyder Consulting and Mott MacDonald. The project team will use BIM and DfMA processes to build the plant ‘virtually’ before starting construction on site.  The project team has used DfMA on similar wastewater treatment facilities in the past and so expects to be able to complete the works with the plant remaining open and fully operational.

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United Utilities senior project manager Richard Sutton said: “Davyhulme is an iconic site where modern wastewater treatment was invented more than 100 years ago. We are keen to get started on this next development in the plant’s history, to ensure we continue to serve the people of Manchester into the 21st Century.”  

Laing O’Rourke Imtech project director Graham Flynn added: “Our ability to maximise the benefits of modern, offsite construction and engineering techniques is central to our solution, meaning that we can deliver this complex scheme in a live environment with minimal disruption.”

The Davyhulme wastewater treatment works expansion is due to be completed in 2018.

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MPU
MPU

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