The building of a 25-kilometre long (15 miles) tunnel beneath the Thames – to help sort millions of tonnes sewage that would otherwise overflow into the river when it rains – is a major upgrading of London’s creaking sewerage network.

Costing more than £4bn, and set to be finished in seven years’ time, the Thames Tideway Tunnel has involved a huge amount of planning and organisation. And as custodians of the capital’s waterway, we’ve had several key roles to play in the project.
But what are those roles?

Licensing
As licensing authority for dredging and building projects on, over and in the river, the PLA has had to approve many temporary and permanent applications for the project and we’ll determine an awful lot more before our involvement ends. We’ve been working closely with Thames Water, and now Tideway, for several years to ensure the processes for consenting the scheme are appropriate as they develop plans for the tunnel and .

associated river works. We were an expert contributor throughout the planning process and are now assessing and licensing river works

the largest infrastructure project this sector has ever undertaken and it has implications for many of our departments and will do so for the next seven years. “We have a range of resources to ensure we can cope with the challenges we’re bound to face from consenting to operational phases. These include: a dedicated harbour master who ensures that all works can happen safely, staff working on conservancy, civil engineers, planners and experts in conjunction with environment. “Our marine services and hydrographic staff are also involved on a commercial basis with the project, through surveying and moving moorings to allow works to continue.”

Safety of navigation
Terry Lawrence is dedicated harbour master for Thames Tideway Tunnel. His role is to monitor plans involving the river while assessing risks, to ensure safety and environmental issues are addressed.
He said: “My role is to help ensure safe navigation is

Several staff have been added to form part of a dedicated admin a team at our HQ in Gravesend, Kent. All relevant tunnel-related activity goes through them and is fed out through our other departments. Applications invariably have to be determined within 35 working days which, when a single application can total thousands of pages, can be a big challenge.

James Trimmer, Port of London Authority director of planning and environment said: “The tunnel is