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Wastewater Treatment & Sewerage

Crossness STW

major upgrade to create a cleaner, healthier River Thames,

by significantly increasing treatment standards and capacity
by Antony Matheson

rossness Sewage Treatment Works (STW) in East London is one of the largest treatment works in the UK,
serving approximately two million people. The 145m upgrade project forms part of Thames Waters London
Tideway Improvements programme, which comprises major engineering schemes to improve water quality
in the River Thames. This programme includes upgrading Londons five major STWs, so they can treat more sewage
and to a higher standard; and creating the Lee Tunnel and proposed Thames Tunnel, designed to prevent pollution
entering the Thames from 35 sewer overflow points along the river. Thames Water appointed Tamesis, a joint venture
between Laing ORourke and Imtech Process, as the contractor for the Crossness STW upgrade.

Aerial view of Crossness STW with new elevated inlet works and new waste water treatment stream - Courtesy of Tamesis for Thames Water

Existing facility and reason for work

Thames Waters upgrade at Crossness STW is designed to meet the
improved environment standards required by the Environment
Agency (EA). The improvements will enable the site to treat 44%
more sewage than it does now, significantly reducing the amount
of storm sewage that overflows into the River Thames during heavy
rainfall when the sites treatment capacity is exceeded. This scheme
will also allow for a 10% population increase until 2021.
The new additional stream at Crossness STW will mirror the existing
works to provide optimised wastewater treatment. Being one of
the largest treatment works in the UK, Crossness STW along with
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its sister site at Beckton STW, are the two biggest wastewater
improvement projects to be delivered for Thames Water in AMP5.
The scheme
At over 70 hectares, Crossness STW is a large site and many of the
schemes complexities are caused by the sheer size of the site and
the requirement to ensure that the existing works are not impacted
upon throughout the construction period. Once completed, the
Crossness STW upgrade project will provide improved wastewater
treatment with improved resource recovery, and will move the
plant towards being a more sustainable, and power self-sufficient,
wastewater treatment facility.
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New plant under construction - Courtesy of Tamesis for Thames Water

The scheme includes:

The complete refurbishment of the Crossness STW Inlet

Pumping Station.
Construction of a new elevated preliminary treatment
works.
A new wastewater treatment stream to include primary
settlement, aeration basins and final settlement tanks.
Sludge storage and thickening equipment.
Extensive refurbishment and upgrading of the existing
works.
Comprehensive power management improvements.
Additional odour-control for elements of the new and
existing plant.
Environmental enhancements at the Crossness Nature
Reserve and the Southern Marshes, including creating a
suitable habitat for water voles and birds.

Wind turbine
The project also includes the installation of a wind turbine to be
erected in 2013, which will provide 2.3MW of renewable energy
to help offset site power requirements. When combined with the
renewable energy generated from advanced digestion of sewage
sludge it should generate a considerable amount of the total power
required.
This wind turbine, capable of powering 1000 homes, will be the
first ever installed of this size to help power a major British sewage
treatment works.
Technical description of design, process and construction work
Work began in November 2009 and the project is due for
completion in December 2013. Industry leading innovations have
been incorporated into the project, including the extensive use of
Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA), which has ensured a

New primary settlement tanks under construction - Courtesy of Tamesis for Thames Water

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Wastewater Treatment & Sewerage

Construction of new elevated inlet works - Courtesy of Tamesis for Thames Water

reduction of on-site construction requirements, while maintaining

quality and increasing site safety and construction reliability.
Overall programme and cost advantages have been realised, with
a target to achieve safe, high quality and lean delivery, early and
within budget.
Tamesis has brought together the complementary in-house skills
and experience of its partners, its proven experience of the global
supply chain, and specialist design skills of Hyder Consulting to
meet Thames Waters project drivers and quality, programme and
financial objectives.
Inlet works pumping station
The work on the inlet pumping station consists of 13
(No.) pumps being replaced on line in sequence, while
maintaining flow into the existing works. When complete,
a third of the existing flow will be split off into the new

elevated preliminary treatment works. The upgraded and

refurbished inlet works pumping station will be able to
pump forward a maximum of 13.68m3/second.
The coarse screens at the inlet pumping station are also
being upgraded. Thames Water reviewed the alternative
screens available, but following review has decided that
the new screens should be reverse engineered in line
with the same basic design as the original 1950s screen,
as none of the modern systems were perceived as being
as robust as these original screens. The new screens have
been designed with modern electronic components while
keeping the basic 1950s design.
Preliminary treatment works
The new inlet works will process 6.5m3/second and include
5 (No.) band screens, screenings handling and washer

Aerial view of new elevated inlet works under construction - Courtesy of Tamesis for Thames Water

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compactors with the maximum capacity of 43m3/hour.

The inlet works has been designed 12m above the existing
ground level so that it is high enough for the flows to
gravitate through the downstream treatment process.
Activated sludge
The screened sewage flow will gravitate to 2 (No.) new
sets of primary settlement tanks via twin 1.2km long 2m
diameter culverts, then through a pair of new aeration lanes
to 12 (No.) final settlement tanks, each 40m in diameter.

Existing works adjacent to the Thames and SPG

Courtesy of Tamesis for Thames Water

The new activated sludge plant will have a capacity of

564Ml/day. It will include 6 (No.) 69m aeration lanes, with
a combined volume of 86,000m3, with anoxic zone mixers,
FBDA and 5 (No.) centrifugal blowers giving an air flow of
up to 21,000m3/hour.
Sludge storage and thickening facilities
The new works will create additional sludge via the twoprocess streams. This will be treated with additional
sludge storage and thickening facilities. There are 5 (No.)
raw sludge gravity belt thickeners, each with a capacity of
6,055m/day at 2% DS.
Associated works
The scheme also includes screening, degritting, with 4 (No.)
new constant velocity grit channels, and a desludging of
the 8 (No.) new primary tanks using simple reciprocating
Zikkert scrapers which are reliable and efficient.
Each primary settlement tank will be 67m long x 21m wide,
to collectively process 6.5m3/second.

Existing sewage pump transfer system

Courtesy of Tamesis for Thames Water

Refurbishment and upgrade

In addition to the new works there will be refurbishment
and upgrading carried out to the existing works, including
the existing aeration lanes and final settlement tanks.
Power management
The scheme also includes a general upgrade to the
incoming power supply and power management system.
As one of five key sites, Crossness requires reliable power
supply and there was a recognised need to build in
substantial resilience, because if power is restricted then
the site is liable to flood.

Existing sewage screening plant

Courtesy of Tamesis for Thames Water

In the event of power shortage, intelligent software SCADA

has been utilised to redirect power to the most important
parts of the site, such as the pumping station, which must
be protected to minimise flooding risk. 2 (No.) standby
generators on site can each provide 2MW of power.
The challenges and innovations
With a scheme of this scale the team was faced with a number of
on-site challenges. One of the most important was maintaining the
performance of the existing process while constructing the new
plant.
To ensure that this is achieved Tamesis has worked closely with
the Thames Water Operations team to ensure that each stage of
the work is fully integrated and all of the extensive interfaces are
managed effectively. A co-located Joint Integration Team (JIT) has
been formed to facilitate effective working together.

The new waste water treatment stream under construction including

primary sedimentation, aeration basins, and final settlement tanks
Courtesy of Tamesis for Thames Water

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The construction team has more than 120 site operatives and 60
site management and engineering staff based on-site. These inhouse resources enabled the multiple complex interactions with
existing operational assets and systems to be safely and effectively
planned and managed.
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Other challenges have included mitigating the environmental

impact of the construction work. To offset for habitat lost by
construction, the project team has created a new reed bed, and
wader scrape, and dug two new ditches to encourage local wildlife
species.
During the design development the team optimised the process
solution, improving the new works operational efficiency and
reliability, including the installation of a 2.3MW wind turbine to
generate up to 20% of the sites energy demand.
Other challenges have included taking on board the local planning
issues and minimising the traffic logistics, mitigating against odour
nuisance and ensuring that the environmental enhancements of
the project were promoted to the local community.
Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA)
One of the most important innovations of the scheme at Crossness
STW has been the introduction of Design for Manufacture and
Assembly (DfMA).
Tamesis is committed to the DfMA principle and it has been
adopted for the factory-produced elevated inlet works sections,
final settlement tank walls, primary treatment and aeration basins.
This has reduced the number of site workers required on site, while
maintaining quality and increasing site safety and construction
reliability. This has contributed to achieving a zero AFR to date on
the project.
DfMA enables precasting of many elements off site. This in turn
minimises construction activity on site. This improves safety
by reducing working from height requirements and general
construction interfaces because the construction activity is carried
out in a controlled, purpose-built factory environment.

Wastewater Treatment & Sewerage

This also reduces the environmental impact of the construction

work, including minimising construction traffic.
DfMA has also been used for the inlet pumping station MCC
building, which includes brick cladding assembled off site. DfMA
also has beneficial cost implications as the precasting work is done
on a repetitive basis.
Key suppliers
In order to deliver the Crossness STW upgrade, Tamesis is working
closely with many suppliers, including:
Xylem Water Solutions (Flygt), Kirk Environmental, Ovivo,
ETech, Imtech G&H, JK Fabrications, Gallagher & McKinney,
Hydro International, Ashbrook Simon-Hartley, Bord na
Mna, OSIL, Production Glass Fibre, Hibernia, Bedford
Pumps, AJ Fabtech, Elsym, Vulcan, BASF, The Longwood
Engineering Company, AVK, Regulators Europa, Broadcrown,
Lintott Control Systems, Brush, Schnieder Electric, Thetford
International, Bramley Engineering and DH Stainless.
Programme
The scheme is due for completion in 2013 and is currently on target
to meet this programme. The major civils work is now substantially
complete and all the M&E procurement has been completed.
Phased replacement of the inlet pumping station pumps is now
under way. The mechanical installation has commenced on the
new inlet works and the refurbishment and upgrade of the existing
works is under way.
The Editor & Publishers would like to thank Antony Matheson,
Tamesis Project Director at Crossness STW, for providing the above
article for publication.

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For more information
Aerial view of new waste water treatment stream including primary
settlement, aeration basins and final settlement tanks
Courtesy of Tamesis for Thames Water

UK Water Projects 2012

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01924 464 283

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