Jun 2023
The deep water main is accessed and operated by 21 deep shafts located at strategic points on the network and used also as working shafts for the tunnel excavation contracts. In operation the 21 shafts are divided into different uses.
• Five connect the ring to the water treatment works that supply clean water into the system
• 11 are pumping stations that draw water from the ring main into local nearsurface water distribution networks
• Three have no water infrastructure and are the permanent man-entry access facilities
• Two are at storage locations where water is supplied in or withdrawn from the network as demand fluctuates.
In its design not only does the Ring Main operate as a supply network, it also acts as a huge reservoir, carrying up to 1,300 million litres of water/day and having a total transfer capacity of 1.8 gigalitres (1.8 × 109 litres)/day. Water flows around the Ring Main by gravity, eliminating the need for costly mechanical pumping, and the direction of flow can be reversed to move around the system even when sections are closed for maintenance.
Below left: Fig 1. Alignment of the Thames Water Ring Main deep beneath all parts of Greater London
Below right: Fig 2. The Ring Main is aligned well below the deepest lines of the London Underground metro network as in this section of the ring on the north side
Roger Remington Died April 2023
Left: View of the 2.5m (100in) i.d. wedge-block segmentally lined Ring Main during construction
The major part of the Ring Main was built between 1988 and 1993 at a cost of £248 million, equivalent to about £550 million in current value, and it engaged most of the leading tunnel contractors and design engineers in the UK at the time. As well as UK equipment and materials suppliers, including machine manufacturer Markham of Sheffield that supplied several open face digger shields to different contractors, an important and committed supplier to the project was TBM manufacturer Lovat of Canada that delivered several early EPB technology TBMs to the project.
Nearly all of the 80km long Ring Main is excavated through competent London Clay and lined with rings of the wedge-block precast concrete segmental system with non-bolted, non-gasketed segments erected against the London Clay and the ring expanded by inserting an interlocking key segment to hold the ring in compression.
When completed, the Ring Main was opened officially by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in November 1994. Today a team of ten engineers is responsible for the operation and upkeep of the main and its schedule of inspections to ensure every part of the tunnel is checked for leaks and any other defects once every ten years. Most recently, inspection and maintenance work on a 35km section of the system and relining of 1.9km of inlet and outlet tunnels at the Walton-on-Thames QEII Reservoir was completed under a £22 million programme of work awarded to UK contractor Barhale.
In 2019, Thames Water hosted a celebration at its regional offices in the city of Reading, west of London, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the completion of the Ring Main. The gathering welcomed engineers who managed and controlled the project from its early inception, through its design, its construction and its inauguration into operation, including Remington who is recognised for
his leadership of the project for Thames Water. In 1993 Remington was awarded the James Clark Medal honour by the British Tunnelling Society of the Institution of Civil Engineers in recognition of his contribution to the project.
Through his tenure as Project Director for Thames Water for the full period of its design and construction and into operation, Remington developed, supported and introduced several advanced initiatives that were instrumental in its tremendous, recognised success. Central to his success in post was his recruitment of an in-house team of Thames Water engineers and professionals supporting him and the project in every aspect of its realisation – from preparation of the contracts, to design of the civil works for its long-term design-life, to management and supervision of the works, to management of relationships between Thames Water as the client, with contractors, their design-build designers, and the contract suppliers of equipment and materials.
Significantly for the Ring Main, Remington had his proposal accepted to base all the construction contracts on the IChemE Green Book form of contract, rather than the more usual ICE 5th Edition at the time. It was significant in that it applied, successfully, a target-price procurement for the civil and tunnelling works. With his career-long interest in civil works contracting, Remington was also determined to avoid lengthy periods of evaluation ahead of award. Through his directorship, bids for most of the civil contracts were invited with a three-week lead and awarded just three weeks later. Both initiatives, as Remington was proud to recount, were instrumental in having the full programme completed and delivered “two years ahead of programme and under [its Thames Water allocated] budget”.
Another outstanding quality of Remington’s on Ring Main was his fair and supportive relationships with the Ring Main contractors and industry suppliers. This was exemplified by the leadership he showed when the Tooting Bec contract in South London ran into serious trouble in a reach of saturated ground within the prevailing London Clay geology. Quick decisions were needed, first to apply ground freezing to rescue the drive and then to order an additional TBM from Lovat for the contract in order to maintain contract and overall project programme. This additional 2.8m diameter Lovat TBM was delivered to London from the Lovat factory in Toronto, Canada, on one of Russia’s Antonov mega freight carrying aeroplanes. Remington went on to approve the purchase by Thames Water of a further three Lovat TBMs to complete the Ring Main project. This is an early use of owner-procured TBMs to accelerate project programme, having them manufactured and delivered ready for novating to the
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Roger Remington (back row, third from right) with colleagues, engineers, staff and partners at the 2019 25th anniversary of the successful completion of the Thames Water Ring Main project
Like this Lovat TBM travelling urgently to a project in Switzerland in 1997, the Ring Main TBM was the first to be delivered by the giant Antonov cargo plane
engaged contractor as soon as the contract is signed and notice to proceed is granted. It worked very successfully on the Ring Main project.
Among the in-house Ring Main engineering team was Jeff Farrow. As an all-round engineer, Farrow turned his hand to computer programming for the introduction of project data recording by computers, project management, technical excavation innovation and his core focus of precast concrete segmental lining design. “A more dedicated, tenacious and hardworking engineer you could not hope to meet,” said Remington when remembering Farrow who died in October 2020. “He was a great ally, collaborator, colleague and co-worker.” Remington recalled that Farrow developed the first mainframe computer programme of its type to monitor many millions of pounds of Thames Water engineering projects, including the London Water Ring Main. “Such was the success of the system that it was given the name PROFISY (Project Financial Information System) and was copyrighted by Thames Water,” recalled Remington. The system has been upgraded through the years and has been applied by Thames Water on projects it has managed at home and abroad.
On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the completion of the Ring Main in 2019, Gareth Parry of Thames Water, and then its Head of Water Production, said: “The Ring Main was an amazing example of innovation in its day and was delivered on time and within budget. This is a testament to the project team, who had the vision to plan so far into the future, that we still consider it one of the most important pieces of infrastructure we rely on today to delivery fresh water to more than 3.5 million customers and still growing.” Remington said of the anniversary: “I have no doubt that the work we did back then has made the lives of Thames Water customers and the work of those with Thames Water who maintain the assets much easier. If the Ring Main didn’t exist, I dread to think what the situation would be like now in efforts to meet demand. Ultimately it was the commitment of the people involved who made the project the success it was, when so many others in our industry said it couldn’t be done.”
Remington, who died on 23 April 2023, began his engineering career before earning his Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering as a night school student at the
Portsmouth Polytechnic (now the Portsmouth University) from 1968 to 1973. Later in his career he passed the Institution of Civil Engineers Law & Arbitration exam and completed a course of the Harvard Advanced Management Programme at Templeton College Oxford. As well as the London Water Ring Main, major projects managed by Remington included water projects in Puerto Rico, Egypt and Turkey. Through his career he continued an interest in developing target cost contracts and ways of collaborative contract working and remained associated with the development of the computerised project financial management system PROFISY. His personal and professional contribution to Thames Water laid the foundation for following major water and wastewater projects for Thames Water including the current Thames Tideway Supersewer and before it the Lee Tunnel and upgrade and expansion of the pump station and wastewater treatment plant at Abbey Mills in East London currently the deepest tunnel in the London area.
Roger is remembered by his wife Bernice at their home in Farnham, Surrey, and by his family and close friends. His work colleagues and friends are making donations in Roger’s memory to the international WaterAid charity dedicated to bringing wastewater management and clean water supply to needing communities around the world, a cause close to Roger’s heart. n
TunnelTalk References
• London Water Ring Main – UK Special Edition and Case Studies p29-32
• UK engineers and engineering celebrated – Oct 2019
• Obituary – Jeff Farrow – Oct 2020
• Lovat: History of a global Canadian brand – Canada Special Edition and Case Studies p34
• Richard Lovat 80th birthday tributes – Canadian Special Edition and Case Studies p31
• London Main Ring inspection and maintenance – Oct 2020
• Tideway Supersewer progress – Aug 2020
• TBMs ready for London’s Lee Tunnel sewerage drives - Feb 2012
• Lee Tunnel wins prestigious concreting award - Dec 2016
• Lovat TBM saves critical deadline of steep inclined drive in Switzerland - Apr 1997
Roger Remington with fellow recipients of the BTS James Clark Medal honour at the 2019 awardees luncheon at the Institution of Civil Engineers in Westminster, London (with year of award) from left to right: Alastair Biggart OBE (1991), Maurice Gooderham (2005), Alan Dyke (2006), Rodney Craig (2004), Alan Runacres (2016), Dave Court (2012), Gordon Ince (1988), Roger Remington (1993), Andy Sindall (2013), Hugh Doherty (1996), Gerard, Ged, Pakes (1997), Oliver Bevan (1992) and Terry Mellors (2011). The James Clark Medal honor was established in 1981 in memory of James Clark who worked for Charles Brand & Son and who was instrumental in establishing the BTS in the early 1970s. The Medal is presented each year to a leading UK engineer or professional to recognise a major contribution to the industry. Several fellow recipients of the Medal also worked during their careers on sections of the Thames Water Ring Main. Visit the BTS website to see a full list of the James Clark Medal recipients.
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