Severn Trent–Barhale Silverdale stormwater shaft: design and risk notes for engineers
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
Severn Trent Water has appointed Barhale to deliver a £9.5m stormwater scheme in Silverdale, near Stoke-on-Trent, centred on a 10.5m diameter, 16m deep shaft providing 770m³ of additional storage to cut intermittent CSO discharges in heavy rainfall. The shaft will be built inside a cofferdam and underpinned to deal with high perched water levels and loose ground, demanding careful temporary works and groundwater control. Barhale will also upgrade the existing pumping station, build a new one with full MEICA integration, and create new road access under a Section 278 agreement.
Technical Brief
- £9.5m capex package awarded by Severn Trent Water to Barhale for the Silverdale works.
- Scope includes both refurbishment of the existing pumping station and construction of a separate new station.
- Full MEICA delivery by Barhale covers mechanical plant, LV electricals, instrumentation, control and automation integration.
- New site access from the main road delivered under a Section 278 agreement with local highways authorities.
- Silverdale scheme forms part of a wider multi-site upgrade programme across Stoke-on-Trent’s wastewater network.
- Companion projects include new stormwater storage shafts at Etruria Vale and Lower Oxford Road.
- All works sit within Severn Trent’s WINEP obligations targeting CSO spill reduction and watercourse quality improvement.
Our Take
Barhale’s selection by Severn Trent at Silverdale follows a run of UK water contracts in our database with Thames Water and Yorkshire Water, signalling that the contractor is consolidating a niche in complex shaft and storage works across multiple regional water companies.
The 10.5 m diameter, 16 m deep shaft and 770 m³ storage at Silverdale sit at the smaller end of the urban stormwater assets we see in recent Infrastructure coverage, suggesting this scheme is targeted at local network pinch points rather than catchment-scale attenuation.
Within our 864 Infrastructure stories, relatively few focus on Stoke-on-Trent or the wider Staffordshire area, so this Silverdale stormwater scheme marks a notable instance of WINEP-driven upgrade activity in a region that otherwise appears less frequently in major water investment news.
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.
