Good afternoon

We’re continuing to invest in new talent on the Project Pipeline site and have recently welcomed a third university placement student to our team, Ahmed Shehab.

Ahmed is studying for his BEng degree in Civil Engineering, having moved to the UK from Italy in 2019.  He’ll be with us for a year, until June 2025 and is currently supporting the commissioning team, working on calculations and assisting with technical aspects of the pipeline using AutoCAD.

As well as graduating and building a career in engineering, Ahmed also has a keen interest in aeronautics and an ambition to gain his pilot’s licence.

Kind regards

Karen Alexander

Farrans’ Stakeholder and Social Value Co-ordinator

Good afternoon

I’d like to introduce the latest two members of our Project Pipeline team – Zac Banham (pictured left) and George Hibbs (right), who have just completed the first year of their BEng degree in Civil Engineering. 

They will be spending a year with Farrans on placement at our site just outside of Barnard Castle, gaining valuable work experience to see how their learning translates into real life scenarios. Afterwards, they’ll return to Salford University to complete two further years of study. 

It’s a real pleasure to cultivate new talent on important infrastructure projects like this and we wish these guys every success!

Kind regards

Karen Alexander

Farrans’ Stakeholder and Social Value Co-ordinator

Good morning

Last month saw a HUGE milestone for our 57km Project Pipeline: County Durham and Tees Valley team!

This was the moment that ‘Penelope’, the tunnel boring machine, broke through to the west shaft, completing its 220m journey under the River Tees.

The tunnelling took just under five weeks to complete, having started at the base of the 46 metre deep east shaft in early April, reaching the 32 metre deep west shaft on Wednesday 15^th May.

The machine was then lifted out using a special crane, with the team comprising Northumbrian Water, Farrans Construction and tunnelling specialists Joseph Gallagher Limited, set to make a start on the next phase.

This will include sealing work before the twin water mains are installed horizontally through the tunnel.  Putting two mains through the tunnel adds resilience to this £155m investment, ensuring a back-up is readily available in case of any problems.

The pipeline will connect Lartington Water Treatment Works with around 200,000 customers to the south of County Durham and across into Teesdale.

Kind regards

Karen Alexander

Farrans’ Stakeholder and Social Value Co-ordinator

Good afternoon,

We’ll be setting up temporary two-way traffic lights on Monday 10 June on the A688 to the north east of Barnard Castle, close to the junction with Town Pasture Lane. They will be in operation each day from 7am to 7pm and will be manually controlled to avoid traffic congestion.

The traffic lights will enable us to carry out preparatory work on this section of the road, ahead of the installation of the new pipeline which will eventually cross the road at this point.

The lights will keep road users, as well as our construction team safe while we’re doing this work and we expect to be finished by Friday 14 June 2024.

We’ll be working as quickly and as safely as possible and thank people for their patience while this essential work is happening. 

If you’d like to speak to a member of our project team, you can telephone our customer contact centre on 0345 717 1100 or tweet us on @nwater_care and we will be very happy to help you.

Kind regards

Karen Alexander

Farrans’ Stakeholder and Social Value Co-ordinator

Good afternoon,

To the communities and businesses around Cotherstone and Lartington who use the B6277, we would like to extend our sincere thanks for your patience and understanding during the recent road closure. This was necessary for the construction of the new pipeline through County Durham and Tees Valley.

Our teams worked hard to ensure we completed the task within the planned time scale and we were able to re-open the road on the evening of Wednesday 5th June as intended.

Once again, our apologies for the inconvenience this closure may have caused and thank you for your patience while this essential work was taking place.

Kind regards

Karen Alexander

Farrans’ Stakeholder and Social Value Co-ordinator

Good afternoon,

We’re continuing with our preparation work along the pipeline route, and we’ve arranged a short-term road closure in conjunction with Durham County Council in the coming weeks.

The road closure will be on B6277 north of the junction to Naby Lane from Tuesday 28^th May 2024 to Wednesday 5^th June 2024. 

An official diversion has been agreed and signage has been placed on the roadside to direct drivers.  An illustration of the diversion route is given below, with the closure point marked with a ‘red star’.  It is important that large vehicles follow this official diversion route, as other smaller lanes around the villages of Lartington and Cotherstone that may also potentially avoid the closure, are not suitable for HGVs.

There will be an impact on public transport as a result of the road closure.  Some bus stops in Lartington and Cotherstone will be without a normal service for the number 95 and 96 Weardale buses for the duration of the B6277 road closure, starting from Tuesday 28 May. 

To minimise any inconvenience for the local community we have arranged for a temporary shuttle bus service to operate during the period of the closure.  Durham County Council will put notices on all affected bus stops informing passengers of the temporary arrangement, this will happen the week before the closure. 

Weardale Travel will also put notices and posters on the number 95 and 96 buses and advertise this change on their Facebook page and website: Weardale Travel (weardale-travel.co.uk).  We are advising passengers to check this information prior to travel. 

With all construction projects, unexpected delays can sometimes occur. Please be assured that we’re working closely with our partners to do all we can to minimise any disruption for you and your community throughout the work.  We’ll be working as quickly and as safely as possible and thank people for their patience while this essential work is happening. 

Typical working hours will be between 7.30am – 6.00pm, Monday to Friday and 8.00am – 2.00pm on a Saturday.

If you’d like to speak to a member of our project team, you can telephone our customer contact centre on 0345 717 1100 or tweet us on @nwater_care and we will be very happy to help you.

Kind regards

Karen Alexander

Farrans’ Stakeholder and Social Value Co-ordinator

Good morning,

We’ll be installing temporary two-way traffic lights on the A67 Darlington Road, on Tuesday 28 May until 9 June 2024. This is so we can carry out realignment work for the access road to our site compound with the A67, to improve safety for vehicles driving into and out of our site.

The location is approximately two miles to the east of Barnard Castle, as indicated by the ‘red star’ on the image below.

We’ll be installing two-way traffic lights to keep road users, as well as our construction team safe while the construction work is taking place. We’ll be working as quickly and as safely as possible and thank people for their patience while this essential work is happening. 

If you’d like to speak to a member of our project team, you can telephone our customer contact centre on 0345 717 1100 or tweet us on @nwater_care and we will be very happy to help you.

Kind regards

Karen Alexander

Farrans’ Stakeholder and Social Value Co-ordinator

It was great to welcome members of the Great North Air Ambulance Service to our Project Pipeline: County Durham and Tees Valley site last month.

Farrans and tunnelling specialists Joseph Gallagher Group donated £1,000 to the Great North Air Ambulance to support their vital services.

The donation was handed over at a special event on 3 April to mark the arrival of a specialist tunnel boring machine, close to the east bank of the Tees, which will create the pathway for the pipes to pass beneath the river.

The project will see the new pipeline created, connecting Lartington Water Treatment Works, in Teesdale, with customers across the south of County Durham and across into Teesside.

Best regards

Karen Alexander

Farrans' Stakeholder and Social Value Co-ordinator

Good afternoon

In recent months, our pipelaying teams have been making excellent progress. If you travel around the County Durham and Tees Valley countryside, you will probably have noticed huge stretches of ground where we’ve cleared the topsoil, excavated the trenches and have now welded together and installed lengths of new pipe.

Our calculations have shown that, as of 19^th April, we’ve laid 11,239 linear metres of pipework.  This represents 34% of the total required, which is 34km.

The image below is an aerial shot of a completed section to the west of Whorley Hill.

Kind regards

Karen Alexander

Farrans’ Stakeholder and Social Value Co-ordinator

Good morning

Last week, Farrans and our contractor, Joseph Gallagher Ltd, started tunnelling operations at Project Pipeline. A 220m tunnel will be constructed beneath the River Tees, near Barnard Castle, to enable the new £155m water pipeline to be installed, while protecting the watercourse and the wildlife that relies upon it.

Northumbrian Water’s Project Pipeline: County Durham and Tees Valley will see the construction of around 57km of new pipes connecting Lartington Water Treatment Works with around 200,000 customers across the south of the North East.

A specialist tunnel boring machine has arrived on site to begin its journey between two specially constructed shafts. This will create a pathway beneath the river, through which the new pipes will be installed.

Phase 1 of the project will connect Lartington, in Upper Teesdale, with Whorley Hill and Shildon, County Durham, and will be followed by a second phase extending the pipeline from Whorley Hill to Long Newton, connecting to the existing network that serves large parts of Teesside.

In recent months, Farrans and subcontractors Joseph Gallagher, have been building  the two shafts, one on either side of the river.

Dave Mellor, Contracts Director for Farrans, said: “ This is an exciting time for the project team as we begin this highly-technical operation under the river. The western shaft is 8.0 metres in diameter and 32 metres deep, while the eastern shaft is 7.5 metres in diameter and 46 metres deep, the difference being due to the rising topography on the east bank.

“A 221-tonne concrete base has been constructed in each shaft – a volume equivalent to 15 wagons of concrete. The 220m journey beneath the Tees will take up to six weeks to complete, going from east to west, before a large crane will lift the machine back out of the eastern shaft.”

James Dawes, Northumbrian Water’s Project Manager said: “This project has been years in the planning, and ensuring that key strategic crossings, such as the River Tees, are done in the best way possible for the local environment and communities, has been vital.

“While it would have been possible to cross the Tees using a pipe-bridge, we had to consider such factors as how this would impact the stunning Teesdale landscape that will be here long after our team have completed the project and moved on.

“The use of no dig techniques (tunnelling or directional drilling) is becoming increasingly common in our projects, to reduce the impact on our region’s road and rail networks by reducing the need to dig long trenches. However, this is the first time we have employed it to cross a river and the teams at Farrans and Joseph Gallagher Limited have done a great job in creating these massive shafts to make this possible.

Project Pipeline: County Durham and Tees Valley is a huge investment in the resilience and quality of water supplies to around 200,000 customers, and there is a lot of work to be done, but this is an exciting and important milestone as we progress this strategically important project towards completion.”

The arrival of the tunnelling machine was greeted by ten-year-old Penny Green, from Cotherstone, who won a competition to name it which was run by Farrans.  She chose the name Penelope after herself, because “the machine is strong, like her”, and was joined by her family – parents Richard and Kelly, and siblings Toby, Josie and Harry, at the eastern shaft, to see the machine and meet the team.

Kind regards

Karen Alexander

Farrans’ Community Business Partner