Global engineering and built environment consultancy Arup, together with whole-lifecycle engineering services provider Binnies, has been appointed by Southern Water to help deliver the planning phase of the Thames to Southern Transfer project (T2ST).
The scheme forms part of the UK’s Strategic Resource Options (SROs) programme, the water sector’s largest coordinated investment initiative – currently estimated at £104bn.
As technical partner, the Arup Binnies joint venture (JV) will support the design of an approximately 80 km strategic pipeline capable of transferring up to 120 million litres of water per day from the White Horse Reservoir (previously called the South East Strategic Reservoir Option – SESRO) in Oxfordshire into Hampshire. Once operational, the transfer will help significantly reduce abstraction from local rivers – protecting precious chalk streams and supporting sustainable water supply in one of the UK’s most water-stressed regions.
The appointment builds upon the JV’s current role in developing the White Horse Reservoir on behalf of Thames Water. Together, the White Horse Reservoir and T2ST are key components of national plans to secure long-term water resilience across the South East. The JV’s responsibilities on T2ST will span planning, design, environmental assessment, ground investigation and constructability through to securing development consent and supporting procurement of the main construction partner.
Timely delivery is essential to continue guaranteeing a reliable and sustainable water supply to customers, while protecting increasingly fragile ecosystems threatened by climate change.