Barhale river clean-up contracts: shaft and storage design notes for engineers
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
United Utilities has awarded Barhale three AMP8 contracts under its £3bn Better Rivers programme to boost stormwater storage and cut storm overflow spills by 60% before 2030 across more than 300 miles of northwest waterways. Works include a 500m³ detention tank with a 10.5m-diameter, 13m-deep shaft at Cheadle, a 1,400m³ caisson-built shaft (15m diameter, 13m deep) plus Section 278 access works at Wheatfield Close, and a 14m-diameter, 6m-high stainless steel tank providing 1,000m³ at Thornton. Associated CSO modifications, new wet wells and outfalls are due for completion between March and June 2026.
Technical Brief
- Cheadle’s 10.5 m-diameter, 13 m-deep shaft will be constructed as a segmental structure.
- Existing CSO at Cheadle will be modified alongside upgrades to valve and flow meter chambers.
- Wheatfield Close storage is centred on a 15 m-diameter, 13 m-deep segmental caisson shaft.
- Section 278 highways works at Wheatfield Close will form a dedicated new access route to the shaft.
- Thornton uses a 14 m-diameter, 6 m-high above-ground stainless steel segmental tank for additional storage.
- A new 4 m by 6 m-deep wet well at Thornton ties into associated flow chambers and CSO works.
- Thornton’s new outfall includes a headwall specifically to increase structural stability at the discharge point.
- Barhale’s design approach focuses on maximising headroom in existing assets to reduce new-build scope and footprint.
Our Take
Within our 212 Infrastructure stories, United Utilities’ £3bn Better Rivers programme stands out as one of the larger AMP8-aligned clean-water portfolios, signalling that contractors like Barhale with shaft and storage expertise are likely to see sustained workload through to at least 2030 in the northwest of England.
The combination of 10.5–15 m diameter shafts at Cheadle and Wheatfield Close and above-ground storage at Thornton suggests United Utilities is mixing deep storage and surface tanks to work around constrained urban footprints and existing utilities, a pattern seen in other UK CSO mitigation schemes.
Targeting a 60% reduction in storm overflow spills by 2030 puts United Utilities at the sharper end of regulatory expectations in our database, which is likely to drive more complex hydraulic control and monitoring requirements on Barhale’s assets than on earlier AMP cycles.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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