VINCI wins contract for Lee Tunnel in London

18 January 2010 - New contracts - United Kingdom

VINCI Construction Grands Projets and Bachy Soletanche Ltd (VINCI Construction), in a 50/50 joint venture with Morgan Est, have been awarded the Lee Tunnel contract by Thames Water, the longstanding operator of London’s water services.

The contract, worth a total of €476 million, calls for building a 7 km tunnel for storm water and wastewater in east London. Located 55 metres to 75 metres below ground, the tunnel will halve the 32 million cubic metres of wastewater that are discharged annually into the River Thames by collecting it at its source. The contract also calls for the construction of four large shafts, as well as supplying and installing the equipment and automation systems necessary for managing the effluent and lifting it more than 80 metres.

Work will start shortly and be completed in 2015.

This contract is part of the Thames Tideway programme, which includes the construction of a second tunnel, 32 km long, known as the Thames Tunnel. Work on this tunnel is scheduled to start in 2015.

The Lee Tunnel contract strengthens VINCI’s presence in the UK, where it started operating in the early 1990s and where it generated revenue of €2.3 billion in 2008.

VINCI Construction Grands Projets is one of the world leaders in underground works, as illustrated by its numerous customer references and the 10 tunnel boring machines used in 2009 on sites such as the Brightwater Tunnel in the United States, the Hallandsås railway tunnels in Sweden and the Liefkenshoek rail tunnel in Belgium.

Bachy Soletanche Ltd is Soletanche Bachy’s British subsidiary (Soletanche Freyssinet). It has participated in most of the major infrastructure projects in the United Kingdom, providing its geotechnical expertise for Heathrow’s Terminal 5, the extension of the Jubilee Line, the Tyne Tunnel in Newcastle, the M74 at Glasgow and the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), including in particular the refurbishment of St Pancras railway station.

 

About VINCI
VINCI is a global player in concessions, energy and construction, employing 280,000 people in more than 120 countries. We design, finance, build and operate infrastructure and facilities that help improve daily life and mobility for all. Because we believe in all-round performance, we are committed to operating in an environmentally, socially responsible and ethical manner. And because our projects are in the public interest, we consider that reaching out to all our stakeholders and engaging in dialogue with them is essential in the conduct of our business activities. Based on that approach, VINCI’s ambition is to create long-term value for its customers, shareholders, employees, partners and society in general.