Yorkshire Water gets a lift to deliver £24m water quality scheme in Sheffield

Yorkshire Water’s £24m project at Rivelin water treatment works in Sheffield has just been given a major lift.

The water supply and treatment utility company is taking delivery of two 30m tall tower cranes at Rivelin to ensure construction work to improve water quality progresses as planned.

The crane delivery is part of a £24m scheme to improve drinking water quality in South Yorkshire that began last November when Nick Clegg, MP for Sheffield Hallam, visited the site.

Yorkshire Water is investing in a new underground building to house clarifying settlement tanks, which will act as the first phase of the water treatment process.

Both 30m high cranes will be used to lift heavy pre-cast sections of the new building into place including the steel pillars, formwork, roof supports and concrete roof slabs.

Simon Balding, Yorkshire Water project manager, said: “Both cranes will be in use whilst we construct the new building. The size of the cranes demonstrates the scale of the project and the investment we are making at this site to ensure excellent drinking water quality for our customers in Sheffield.”

The first of the cranes was delivered to the construction site, which is just off Manchester Road (A57) in Sheffield, on 25 May. The second crane will be delivered in late June and both will remain at Rivelin for approximately 14 months.

Simon added: “Since November we have moved thousands of tons of earth and stone to create room for the base for the new water treatment building.

“During the excavation, the team were challenged with removing some huge boulders the size of delivery vans. The soil is currently stockpiled on site, ready for re-use on, and around the new building when construction is complete.

“Most of the new building will be buried underground and grassed over to ensure minimal impact on the beautiful views over the Rivelin Valley.”

The project is being managed and constructed by Mott MacDonald Bentley and is due for completion by the end of 2017.