On 24 August, Murphy & Sons Ltd was announced as the selected contractor for the 12km Lower Lea valley cable tunnels by the London Development Agency (LDA).
Although still subject to finalising the contract details, the US$129M award is the first stage of a US$368M project to remove 50 electricity pylons from the area and free up over 40 hectares of land for development – a crucial step in creating the Olympic Park and preparing the area for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.
Murphy will construct two tunnels 20m below the surface to carry the power cables in place of the overland route. One tunnel will be 2.5m in diameter for EDF Energy, with the other 4m diameter tunnel for National Grid. The larger bore will have its own monorail installed down the centre for inspection and servicing.
The works were announced as the Mayor of London issued a statutory direction to Transport for London (TfL) and the LDA that allowed them to begin crucial preparation works for the 2012 games before the establishment of a designated authority to deliver the games.
As Murphy’s success was announced, the chair of the LDA’s Olympic Delivery Committee said: “Undergrounding these power lines is a huge project, creating tunnels equivalent to more than half the length of the Victoria Line.”
