One year on

Just over a year ago, construction started on our largest capital project - a £300 million environmental improvement scheme to bring cleaner seas to Sussex.

Now, with a workforce of more than 300 engineers, miners, construction workers, administrative staff and the project management team, the state-of-the-art sewage treatment scheme is starting to take shape.

For those who have travelled along the East Sussex coast recently, it is hard to miss the red cranes dotted along the A259 near Brighton. There are currently nine sites associated with the construction of the new wastewater treatment works and sludge recycling centre, 11 kilometres of new sewer tunnel, three pumping stations, a new 2.5 kilometre long sea outfall and connections to the existing network.

When completed, the new works will treat the 95 million litres of wastewater generated each day by the residents of Peacehaven, Telscombe Cliffs, Ovingdean, Rottingdean, Woodingdean, Saltdean and Brighton and Hove.

Alice and Hollyblue, the two tunnel-boring machines named by local schoolchildren, arrived in the summer to create the main section of tunnel between the new Marine Drive Pumping Station in the west and Friars Bay in the east. This was a significant milestone for the project, which is due to be completed in 2013.

After 119 days, Alice completed her first section of tunnel, between Ovingdean and Marine Drive, and is currently preparing for her second section between Ovingdean and Portobello.

Also during the summer, the pipe that will form the new long sea outfall arrived from Norway and is now in position in a trench dug on the seabed at Friars Bay.

Ben Green, Southern Water’s programme manager, said: “The project has come to life in the past year.

“With the main excavations complete at Peacehaven and the construction of the structures and steel work well under way, we will begin to fit out the new buildings, not only at Peacehaven but across the whole project, in the next few months. This will include the installation of about 60 electrical panels, approximately 150 kilometers of cable, more than 10 kilometres of piping and up to 100 pumps.”

For more information about the cleaner seas project, please visit our dedicated website.

To find out more about the work of Southern Water, see our annual Stakeholder Report.