Civil engineering, infrastructure and tunnelling specialist Barhale has been appointed by Anglian Water to a major project which will provide wastewater network capacity for future development at Alconbury Weald in Cambridgeshire.

Barhale has been appointed for the £14.6m twin pumped rising main, featuring complex horizontal directional drilling (HDD) crossings beneath the East Coast Main Line and the River Great Ouse, will include a 7,460m pipeline.

Alconbury Weald is centred on the the site of the former RAF Alconbury base. The fast-growing new town has planning permission for up to 190,000m2 of employment floorspace and approximately 6,200 homes with supporting infrastructure and facilities.

Work will be delivered through the @one Alliance, the strategic delivery vehicle for Anglian Water’s Integrated Main Works programme, with civil engineering, MEICA and infrastructure specialist Barhale acting in the role of prime contractor.

Around 1.5km of the route will pass through the development site with the remainder mainly crossing agricultural land. The route avoids the disruption that a more direct route through Huntingdon town centre would cause. The pipeline will discharge directly into Huntingdon Water Recycling Centre inlet works.

An existing pumping station at Alconbury Weald does not have sufficient capacity so developer Urban&Civic will build a new terminal pumping station.

Ashley Jordan, construction manager at Barhale, said: “Housing and commercial growth, together with climate change and urban creep, mean the existing sewer network will no longer meet demand by 2027. This project provides the necessary additional capacity. While the majority of the pipeline will be laid in conventional open-cut, the HDD installations beneath the East Coast Main Line and the River Great Ouse are quite challenging, particularly given the relatively wet ground conditions."

The project is scheduled for handover to the developer in November 2027.