Counters Creek storm relief sewer
Tunnel drive
strategy
As part of developing our proposals for the
proposed Counters Creek storm relief sewer,
we have assessed a number of potential
sites and options for where we would start
and finish the tunnelling for the new sewer
and the route we would take to connect
our preferred construction sites.
Tunnel drive strategy
Site
Westfield Park
Reason considered
As an alternative drive
site during the first phase
of site selection work
Cremorne Gardens (to be As an alternative drive
used in conjunction with site during the first phase
Cremorne Wharf Depot) of site selection work
Gwendwr Gardens
As an alternative drive
site during the first phase
of site selection work
St Paul’s Garden
As an alternative drive
site during the first phase
of site selection work
Brook Green
Hammersmith Pumping
Station
Shepherds Bush Green
Kensington Olympia
car park
Cremorne Wharf Depot
Outcome
Rejected at the Site Suitability Reporting stage due to
unacceptable townscape and visual impacts.
Rejected at the Site Suitability Reporting stage as unsuitable
from an environmental perspective, due to the loss of trees in
Cremorne Gardens.
Rejected at the Site Suitability Reporting stage due to
unacceptable heritage and townscape and visual impacts and
from a socio-economic and community perspective.
Not identified as a preferred drive site as it is designated open
space, and the north walls to the site were listed as Grade II.
The site was also reliant on road transport, whereas other sites
could use alternative transport e.g. river freight.
As a potential drive site
Not suitable due to its location to the north of the Thames
during the first phase of Water Lee Valley water main. This is because the water main
site selection work
is at the same level as the southern section of the proposed
storm relief sewer. This site was further assessed as a
potential sewer interception sites.
As a potential drive site
No suitable site could be identified to allow connection to
during the first phase of the Thames Tideway Tunnel or the existing Hammersmith
site selection work
Pumping Station that could also be used as a tunnel drive site.
This option was rejected.
As a potential drive site
Not suitable due to its location to the north of the Thames
during the first phase of Water Lee Valley water main. This is because the water main
site selection work
is at the same level as the southern section of the proposed
storm relief sewer. This site was further assessed as a
potential sewer interception sites.
As the preferred drive site Feedback from the landowner in response to the phase 1
during the first phase of consultation identified that this site is not available for use as
site selection work
a drive site because of the planned increase in usage of the
car park to facilitate events at Kensington Olympia. This site
was therefore rejected as the main tunnel drive site.
Suitable for a drive site
At the time of our phase 1 consultation, the restrictions
should the preferred
placed on the drive strategy from this site by Crossrail 2 would
location at Kensington
require an additional drive site at either Kensington Olympia
Olympia car park not be car park or St Paul’s Garden, which would increase the
possible. Site retained as number of tunnel drive sites in use.
a reserve site.
(Note: Following consultation feedback on the use of
Kensington Olympia car park and the removal of the Crossrail
2 safeguarded route, this site became our preferred main
tunnel drive site. See page 3).
Table 1 - Outcomes of our drive site option assessment work
2 Counters Creek storm relief sewer
Our position at the
phase 1 consultation
Revisions following our
phase 1 consultation
The proposed storm relief sewer tunnel must slope to
the south to allow the collected stormwater to drain
naturally. It also needs to avoid existing and planned
tunnels in the area.
Following our phase 1 consultation, we learned that
the Kensington Olympia car park site would not be
available for use as a tunnel drive site because of the
planned increase in usage of the Kensington Olympia
Exhibition Centre.
This required us to plan alignment route for the new
tunnel to pass under the safeguarded Crossrail 2
alignment in Chelsea, but over the Thames Water Lee
Valley Tunnel (which crosses the planned route beneath
the Kensington Olympia Car Park).
In order to achieve this, and not exceed the maximum
allowable gradient for the new tunnel, we had to
incorporate a change of level. This required a higher
northern tunnel and a lower southern tunnel, with a
vertical drop at a shaft connecting the two.
During our phase 1 consultation, our proposed tunnel
drive strategy was to use the Kensington Olympia car park
site as a starting point to tunnel both north and south.
The site would also have been used for construction of a
branch tunnel to Upper Addison Gardens. The proposal
was therefore to construct three shafts on the Kensington
Olympia car park site, with tunnel drives in three
directions from the southern two shafts.
This strategy was the outcome of our assessment work on
the drive site options shown on Table 1 opposite.
Our alternative drive strategy, also detailed at the phase
1 consultation, was to drive the main tunnel north from
the Cremorne Wharf Depot site to the Kensington
Olympia car park site, where a change in level would
be required. This approach still required a drive shaft
at Kensington Olympia car park site to construct the
remainder of the main tunnel to the north (at the higher
level) and the branch tunnel to Upper Addison Gardens.
In February 2015, we also learned that Crossrail 2 had
revised its safeguarded route in Chelsea, which allowed
us to reduce the depth of the proposed storm relief sewer
in this location. This meant that we were able to propose
a tunnel route without a change in level and therefore
construct the tunnel using a single drive northwards
to the Shepherds Bush area, rather than the two main
tunnel drives from the Kensington Olympia car park site
that we had previously proposed.
We also undertook further site assessment work to
identify alternative potential sewer interception sites
in the Holland Park and Notting Hill areas, including
sites that might provide opportunities to drive a short
branch tunnel to connect with the main storm relief
sewer tunnel.
In May 2015, during our interim engagement exercise,
we set out that we planned to drive the main tunnel
for the proposed storm relief sewer from the Cremorne
Wharf Depot site. This site is beside the River Thames,
allowing us to use barges to transport the majority of
materials to and from the site.
Another alternative strategy detailed at the phase 1
consultation was to drive the main tunnel from the
Cremorne Wharf Depot site north to the St Paul’s
Garden site, where a change in level would be required to
continue the tunnel drive north. We would then drive the
tunnel from St Paul’s Garden towards Shepherds Bush
and Upper Addison Gardens.
Counters Creek storm relief sewer 3
Shepherd’s Bush
Westfield
Shopping Centre
5
3
Goldhawk
Road
KENSINGTON AND CHELSEA
High Street
Kensington
4
KENSINGTON
Olympia
London
HAMMERSMITH
d
Ravenscourt
Park
Gloucester
Road
West
Kensington
Earls
Court
South Kensington
2
Barons
Court
HAMMERSMITH
AND FULHAM
Earls Court
Exhibiton Centre
Fulham
Broadway
Stamford
Bridge
1
BARNES
Parsons
Green
Key Proposed storm relief sewer
Cremorne Wharf Depot, Lots Road, Chelsea
1
2
Land
adjacent to Talgarth Road and Trevanion Road, Hammersmith
3 Maclise Road car park and woodland, adjacent to Kensington Olympia Station
A section of the car park at Tesco Superstore, Shepherd’s Bush Road
4 5 Holland Villas Road at its junction with Lower Addison Gardens
Main Tunnel Drive Direction
Branch Tunnel Drive Direction
Figure 1 - Our proposed drive strategy and preferred construction sites.
Counters Creek storm relief sewer 4
Proposed drive strategy
Based on our engineering, planning, environmental
and property analysis to date, and engagement with
stakeholders, we are now to confirm our drive strategy for
the proposed storm relief sewer.
We will drive the new sewer from the Cremorne Wharf
Depot site northwards to the Shepherds Bush area,
where the tunnel boring machine will be removed from
the ground at the Tesco Superstore car park, Shepherd’s
Bush Road site.
We will construct shafts along the tunnel route at a
site adjoining Talgarth Road and Trevanion Road in
Hammersmith, and at the Maclise Road car park and
woodland, adjoining Kensington Olympia Station.
A short branch tunnel will be driven from the Maclise
Road car park and woodland site to a shaft constructed
at the junction of Holland Villas Road and Lower
Addison Gardens.
These sites are shown in the Figure 1 opposite. Details of
our proposals can be found in the information leaflets for
each of our preferred sites.
Alternative drive strategies for the
branch tunnel to connect to the
existing Counters Creek Sewer
Our preferred strategy drives the branch tunnel from
the Maclise Road car park and woodland, adjacent to
Kensington Olympia Station site, to the Holland Villas
Road area. We considered a number of alternative drive
strategies for the construction of this branch tunnel:
• Drive from Rifle Place and Edward Woods Town Park
• Drive from Land at Swanscombe Road and Norland
House
• Drive from sites in the Upper Addison Road and
Holland Villas Road area
Both the Rifle Place and Edward Woods Town Park and
the Land at Swanscombe Road and Norland House sites
were included in our interim engagement exercise in
May 2015. Feedback received during that engagement
exercise confirmed that neither site was available for
development. Therefore, we rejected these two options.
The sites in the Upper Addison Gardens and Holland
Villas Road area are also potential locations to connect
into the existing Counters Creek Sewer. However, none
of these sites are large enough or suitable for use as a
branch tunnel drive site. On the basis of our assessment of all of the drive strategy
options, we believe our preferred strategy of driving
the branch tunnel from the Maclise Road car park and
woodland, adjacent to Kensington Olympia Station site,
is the most appropriate.
Counters Creek storm relief sewer 5
Related documents
The following documents are available at our drop-in sessions and to download from the document library on our
website - www.thameswater.co.uk/counterscreek
Phase 1 consultation and engagement process
• Feedback from our phase 1 consultation and
engagement process
• Phase 1 Consultation and Engagement Process
Feedback Report
Project information
• Being a good neighbour
• Environment
• Getting planning permission
• Have your say
• How we chose our preferred sites
• How we would build the proposed storm relief sewer
• Transport
• Timing
• Why we need the Counters Creek storm relief sewer
Project contact details:
Web: www.thameswater.co.uk/counterscreek
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 0800 316 9800, option 2 Ref: BB968577
Postal address: Counters Creek sewer flooding
alleviation scheme consultation,
Freepost RTHE-CJYYCXCJ, 7 St Peter Street,
Winchester SO23 8BW
Site information
• Cremorne Wharf Depot, Lots Road, Chelsea
• Land adjacent to Talgarth Road and Trevanion Road,
Hammersmith
• Maclise Road car park and woodland adjacent to
Kensington Olympia Station
• Holland Villas Road at its junction with Lower Addison
Gardens
• Tesco Superstore car park, Shepherd’s Bush Road
Site Suitability Reports
• Cremorne Wharf Depot, Lots Road, Chelsea
• Land adjacent to Talgarth Road and Trevanion Road,
Hammersmith
• Maclise Road car park and woodland adjacent to
Kensington Olympia Station
• Holland Villas Road at its junction with Lower Addison
Gardens
• Tesco Superstore car park, Shepherd’s Bush Road