Huge excavators positioned on jack-up barges on Deptford Creek have been dredging the riverbed to prepare for tunnelling in Greenwich, reports the Tideway – the company delivering the Thames Tideway Tunnel.
The operation is a key part of Tideway’s work in south-east London to clean up the River Thames and will make it possible to park and fill barges with spoil from the tunnelling operation.
A giant tunnel boring machine (TBM) is set to begin tunnelling from Greenwich this year, creating a 4.5km connection to Bermondsey.
And as Tideway has made a commitment to move as much of the excavated material as possible away from site by river – instead of by road — this means utilising Deptford Creek.
The benefits of moving material by river are profound, reducing the need for HGVs on local roads and drastically reducing the impact on air quality.