Black & Veatch Project For Thames Water Wins London's Highest Civil Engineering Honor
Black & Veatch, a leading global engineering, consulting and construction company, has won two categories of the Institution of Civil Engineers' (ICE) London Merit Awards, the city's highest honor for civil engineering excellence.
Black & Veatch is principal contractor on the Hampton Advanced Water Treatment Work (AWTW) Rapid Gravity Filtration (RGF) Remodelling Project, and is also responsible for detailed design, construction and commissioning services.
The works supplies one-third of London's drinking water; the upgrade project was awarded both the ICE London Merit Award for Conservation and the ICE London Merit Award for the Greatest Contribution to London. The London Merit Awards celebrate outstanding civil engineering achievement, innovation and ingenuity by companies, organizations and individuals in London.
"Receiving these awards from a highly accredited body such as the ICE is recognition of the commitment, cooperation, and close working relationship between the team, the client and other stakeholders," said Andrew Greenway, Contracts Manager for Black & Veatch.
Robert Sharpe, chair of the judging panel commented, "The recipients of the ICE London Merit Awards 2009 have excelled in delivering projects which combine a commitment to innovation, creativity and social value with a culture of safety and sustainability. I congratulate them all for demonstrating the important contribution that civil engineers make to London."
Greenway observed that, "Sustainability is one of the key features of the Hampton RGF Remodelling Project. The remodelling of 70-year-old filters, rather than adopting the original new build solution, significantly reduced the environmental impacts associated with the construction of a new plant of this capacity."
Other aspects of the work which reduced the project's environmental impact included harvesting and chipping of 14 kilometers of unplasticised polyvinyl chloride piping and 92,000 polypropylene nozzles for reuse in the plastics industry and 800-tons of waste concrete that was crushed and reused as hardcore in construction.
Mark Bulpett, Thames Water Project Manager said, "Working closely with Thames Water Engineering and Operations, Black & Veatch delivered the project under budget and ahead of program, with minimal interruption to works production. It was a brilliant effort by all."
While undertaking the circa £21.8M Thames Water project, Black & Veatch is ensuring its work does not interrupt potable water supplies. Before remodeling the existing filters and infrastructure to modern standards, the filters needed to be backwashed every day to remove accumulated debris. With the new improved filter design and enhanced backwashing capability, this requirement has been extended to two days or longer. These improved run times mean the operational energy use of the refurbished plant also has been enhanced.
Additionally, the project has an exemplary health and safety record, with no reportable accidents in over 400,000 man hours worked. The award was presented to the Hampton AWTW team by Alice Bhandhukravi, BBC London news reporter and presenter, and Robert Sharpe, chairman of ICE London, at the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden.
About Black & Veatch
Black & Veatch is a leading global engineering, consulting and construction company specializing in infrastructure development in energy, water, telecommunications, management consulting, federal and environmental markets. Founded in 1915, Black & Veatch develops tailored infrastructure solutions that meet clients' needs and provide sustainable benefits. Solutions are provided from the broad line of service expertise available within Black & Veatch, including conceptual and preliminary engineering services, engineering design, procurement, construction, financial management, asset management, program management, construction management, environmental, security design and consulting, management consulting and infrastructure planning. With $3.2B in revenue, the employee-owned company has more than 100 offices worldwide and has completed projects in more than 100 countries on six continents.
Black & Veatch's global water business provides innovative, technology-based solutions to utilities, governments and industries worldwide. Local project teams work with multinational water and wastewater treatment process experts to address site-specific challenges through a broad range of consulting, study, planning, design, design-build and construction management services. For more information, visit: www.bv.com.
SOURCE: Black & Veatch