London Is Building A $5BN Super Sewer That Nobody Has Heard Of

The Thames tideway tunnel is a massive new super sewer that London is building to combat it's sewage problem. Today we explore the insane engineering behind the new Thames tideway tunnel and the construction challenge it faces.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
► OTHER INTERESTING VIDEOS:

The Insane Size Of The World’s Largest New Cruise Ship

[TheImpossibleBuild]

An amazing under the radar project 🔥 Are there any major issues?

[TheByard]

Back in 1962 I worked on the Northen Outfall Sewer at West Ham just East of Abbey Mills pumping station, where the five outfalls cross several railway tracks and Manor Road West Ham. The sewers were damaged in WWII and repaired with cast iron tunnel segments, though great for a quick repair, the webs and bolts on the inside caused blockages with the solids and other waste catching on them. The pipes were flushed with water from Abbey Mills and then each pipe in turn was closed off and pad locked. Then the tunnel segments dismantled and new bridge girders and hanging brackets installed. New cast iron segments installed with webs and bolts on the outside, the recessed joint grooves filled with steel filings. Then the pipe was commissioned, and the operation carried out four more times. This was carried out through a terrible winter with thick fogs that on one occasion it took my father and I nine hours to travel home to Barnet North London. London was covered in ice, men were taken of the dole and set to ice chipping walkways etc.
To lift the concrete beams into place over the railway tracks, a rail mounted steam crane was hired from British Rail, it was amazing to watch. The driver received signals from the banksman blowing a whistle for stop, the direction signal given by hand, the crane driver would carry out the lift for example, then the banksman would blow his whistle for stop and all the crew would shout stop. This continues for each raise, lower or swing in turn.

[wobby]

This is a long awaited and fantastic piece of infrastructure that will make a huge difference to the wonderful Thames river. I can remember well when the Thames was so polluted that fish were unheard of, now with this fantastic sewerage system, overnight the themes will start to breath life again.

[chrisjackson]

Strangely enough there have been multiple tv documentaries on the super sewer so not really an unknown construction project

[twisted_void]

I worked on this project, many years ago. Used to manage a bunch of small ships, which were used to move million tons of soil excavated during tunneling operations, out of London.
With the help of this excavated material a brand new saltmarsh was created at Wallasea Island. What used to be agricultural land, these days is a wetland for all kinds of wildlife.

[Sarge]

The ground underneath London is like Swiss cheese.
As well as the old sewers there is the Underground Railway, the Mail Train, the London Ring (A large bore tunnel that is an deep level drinking water reservoir.), a service tunnel distributing high voltage electricity around London, and numerous bunkers built during WWII and in the post WWII era known as the Cold War.

[chrisbray]

At last someone in the central government has had the fore sight to the problem that many people will benefit from this project including those who live in north Kent and Essex shore lines .Plus for us better marine life .

[francisnjuguna]

Absolutely quality mind 💯 % for the well-being of people and everything surrounding the environment. Thanks so much for such quality technologies. 😅

[Lord_Stickman]

A video on the Chicago Deep Tunnel might be cool.

[Ceso]

I live in london and have always known about the super sewer 😂😅

[CraigFThompson]

One good way to reduce solids loading in the sanitary sewerage system would be to introduce source separation; for example, solids such as fecal matter will be filtered through a thick layer of combustible garbage which will be periodically removed withma screw auger ( which will also remove excess moisture).

The solids could either be converted into various liquid and gaseous fuels, or even, if possible, burned directly. The heat could then be utilized for triple-effect distillation.

[XteamMAB]

Flushed away 2 will be inspired by this

[hypercomms]

Well I have, because I have been smart enough to watch your YouTube video!

[cosimo]

Why the horrible background noise (music !) ? Video makers must learn to show respect for listeners.

[JanLion-zbbd]

Around 1860, they made 21.000 kilometers of smaller local sewers plus 720 kilometers of main sewers in 5 years time.
In the 2020's, they made 15 kilometers of super sewer in 5 years time for $ 5 billion. That is $ 1 million for every 3 meters.

[terrystephens]

I had no idea that raw sewage was being discharged into the Thames 🤯🤯🤯

[KyrilPG]

There's a small mistake with "Banchy Soletanche". It is "Bachy Soletanche UK", without a "n" in Bachy.
It is the UK subsidiary of Soletanche Bachy", a huge French construction company / group currently involved, like VINCI, in the building of the Grand Paris Express, among many other projects.
It is currently the world's largest geotechnical construction company.
The UK subsidiary was founded by Bachy in the mid 80's, before the merger of Bachy with Soletanche, that's why the name is reserved in the UK, while it is Soletanche Bachy in France and worldwide.
Bachy UK was established by the acquisition of Pigott Foundations Ltd and Foundation Engineering Ltd.

And it's VINCI Grands Projets (not projects), as it is the French name Grands Projets meaning Great Projects.

The video is great and very interesting but it could have mentioned that the super sewer tunnel seems to run under the Thames for a substantial part of its length, following the meandering path of the river.

[someonelastname]

Will it separate run off water from sewage water? That's the main issue at the moment, as the combination of both causes the overflows into rivers/ocean. Run off water is fine to release, sewage is certainly NOT.

[davidboyle]

The aggregate for the tunnel segments is quarried at The Glansanda Quarry near Fort William.

[Dillyvl]

3:02 that's the shaft where the digger took a dive no?