£24 million project to improve Sheffield's drinking water gets a lift

Yorkshire Water takes delivery of two massive tower cranes at Rivelin water treatment works to ensure construction work progresses as planned.

In November last year Nick Clegg, MP for Sheffield Hallam, was at Rivelin to get a £24 million scheme to improve drinking water underway. Yorkshire Water is investing in a new underground building to house new clarifying settlement tanks, which will act as the first phase of the water treatment process.

The first of these cranes was delivered to the construction site, which is just off Manchester Road (A57) in Sheffield, on 25 May.

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Both cranes are 30 metres high which is equivalent to the height of six large giraffes stacked on top of each other. The second crane will be delivered in late June and both will remain at Rivelin for about 14 months.

Both will be used to lift heavy pre-cast sections of the new building into place including the steel pillars, formwork, roof supports and concrete roof slabs.

Simon Balding, Yorkshire Water Project Manager, said: “Both cranes will be in use whilst we construct the new building. The size of the cranes demonstrates the scale of the project and the investment we are making at this site to ensure excellent drinking water quality for our customers in Sheffield.”

“Since November we have moved thousands of tons of earth and stone to create room for the base for the new water treatment building. During the excavation, the team were challenged with removing some huge boulders the size of delivery vans. The soil is currently stockpiled on site, ready for re-use on, and around the new building when construction is complete. Most of the new building will be buried underground and grassed over to ensure minimal impact on the beautiful views over the Rivelin Valley.”

The project is being managed and constructed by Mott MacDonald Bentley and is due for completion by the end of 2017.