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Barhale

Barhale is a civil engineering and infrastructure specialist with more than 40 years’ experience in the construction industry.

Founded by chairman, Dennis Curran in 1980, the group was originally set up as a tunnelling contractor. While retaining its tunnelling roots, repeated success across several sectors of the construction industry has enabled the company to expand to become one of the largest privately-owned infrastructure experts in the UK.

We work UK-wide across the water, energy, transport and built environment sectors providing design, construction and maintenance services under long-term contracts with blue chip public, regulated and private clients.

The company has an outstanding reputation for the range of specialist skills it possesses to support its civil engineering and infrastructure activities including MEICA and a steel-fabrication and supply subsidiary.

Tideway Central - Victoria Embankment (2024)

Delivery of complex civils to intercept combined sewer overflows and divert into the Thames Tideway Tunnel

Witches Oak WTW: Green Recovery - Decarbonising Water Resources (2024)

The challenges of designing and constructing the Witches Oak programme of works on multiple sites to a condensed timescale

Tideway West - Barn Elms CSO Connection Tunnel (2023)

The Thames Tideway Tunnel Project is a 25 km (16 mi) combined sewer under construction under the tidal section of the River Thames as it runs through London. It will significantly increase the capacity of London’s sewerage system (large sections of which were built in the 19th century), and be able to capture, store and […]

Tophill Low WTW (2023)

Tophill Low Water Treatment Works (WTW) is a 68 Ml/d water production plant situated in the East Riding of Yorkshire, approximately six miles from Driffield. The works was originally constructed in 1959 and upgraded in the 1990s to the current configuration. The treatment process presently includes pH correction, ozonation, coagulation, DAF clarification, rapid gravity filtration, […]

Hampton Loade WTW (2023)

Hampton Loade WTW treats raw water from Chelmarsh Reservoir, located approximately two miles north-west of the site. The reservoir is supplied by the river intake pumps located within the intake building immediately adjacent to the River Severn. The maximum flow that can gravitate to the works from the reservoir is 130-135 megalitres/day (MLD). To increase […]

Witches Oak WTW: Green Recovery - Decarbonising Water Resources (2023)

In the summer of 2020, the water industry was set a challenge by its regulators to identify ways to support the country’s green economic recovery from Covid-19. Severn Trent responded with a number of proposed programmes, including Decarbonising Water Resources (DWR), the subject of this paper. The objective of the DWR programme was to provide […]

North London Heat & Power Sewer Diversion (2022)

The North London Heat & Power Project is a ten-year, £1.2 billion programme to replace the current Edmonton energy from waste facility. It is being constructed on behalf of North London Waste Authority at the Edmonton EcoPark and includes a world-class Energy Recovery Facility (ERF), to generate energy from waste in the form of heat […]

Clifton Integrated Constructed Wetland (2022)

Clifton Wetlands is a new, integrated constructed wetland (ICW) built at Yorkshire Water’s Clifton Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW), near Doncaster in South Yorkshire. It is a ground-breaking project that utilises a nature based solution to replace conventional wastewater treatment processes with a natural, sustainable and low-carbon alternative. Yorkshire Water, the Environment Agency, Stantec UK and […]

Strongford STW - THP & LTP (2022)

Strongford STW is a major sewage treatment works serving the population equivalent of circa 350,000 from Newcastle-under-Lyme and Stoke-on-Trent. The site’s sludge treatment facility provides a major centre for regional operations. Based on a forecast increase in population, it was identified that an increase in treatment capacity would be required to accommodate the local growth. […]

Potters Way Sewer Rehabilitation (2023)

Potters Way, located in the Fengate area of Peterborough, is a recent housing development next to the A1139. The development was built on the grounds of the former Fengate Water Recycling Centre (WRC) which closed in 1988 following the construction of the Flag Fen WRC. In early December 2018, Anglian Water became aware of the […]

Queen Elizabeth II Reservoir (2022)

The Queen Elizabeth II (QEII) Reservoir is a raw water reservoir in South West London that is owned and operated by Thames Water. The reservoir holds over 19 million litres of water, equating to 10% of the raw water storage for London. Once treated, this provides clean potable drinking water for millions of people across […]

Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal Programe (2022)

As part of the capital investment programme for the years 2020 to 2025 (AMP7), Yorkshire Water Services (YWS) set out to deliver a programme to comply with new regulatory obligations on phosphorus (P) standards (Water Industry National Environment Programme – WINEP) while ‘greening’ their approach to wastewater treatment by prioritising solutions with lowest whole life […]

Waverley Growth (2021)

To accommodate new housing and commercial growth in the Waverley/Catcliffe area of Sheffield, Yorkshire Water required the design and construction of a new pipeline to transfer the flows from a housing development of 4000 homes to the main Blackburn Meadows WwTW. The pipeline route crossed main dual carriageways, other roads, roundabouts, railway lines and passed […]

Ludham Licence Reinvestment (2021)

Ludham WTW supplied 2.1 million litres a day (MLD) of treated water to 2,464 properties in Ludham and Martham whilst originally being fed by Ludham boreholes, with emergency supply coming from East Ruston boreholes. This £7.6m scheme addressed area growth and abstraction licence challenges by combining different schemes to deliver an efficient solution for customers […]

Tideway Central - Junctions (2021)

The Tideway Tunnel is a new 25km long combined sewage storage and transfer system that will help protect the ecology of the River Thames by tackling the problem of overflows from London’s ageing sewers. The Central Section consists of eight work sites each incorporating a drop shaft, as well as two tunnel drives. Of the […]

River Itchen Eel Screens Project (2021)

Portsmouth Water’s River Itchen Water Treatment Works (WTW) is located to the east of Southampton Airport near to the picturesque Itchen Valley Country Park and abstracts water directly from the River Itchen for treatment. The River Itchen is 28 miles long and runs from mid-Hampshire near Cheriton through Winchester to Southampton at Mansbridge and is […]

Counters Creek Flood Alleviation Scheme (2020)

The Counters Creek Flood Alleviation Scheme was developed by Thames Water in response to the widespread basement flooding caused by intense rainfall in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. The scheme aims to reduce flood risk for relevant basement properties through a series of interventions that […]

Barrow Hill Shaft (2020)

The Thames Water Ring Main (TWRM) in London is an 80km long, 2.5m diameter tunnel built between 1988 and 1994 to take water from five treatment works and transfer flows via pumping stations housed in shafts along the route. It is a major part of London’s water supply infrastructure and carries an average daily flow […]

BRP - Elan Valley Aqueduct - Birmingham Resilience Project (2020)

Between 1893 and 1904 the Birmingham Corporation dammed the Elan Valley in Wales and constructed an aqueduct to channel water to Birmingham. At the height of the industrial revolution, between 1800 and 1900 Birmingham was booming, and its population rose substantially. Following outbreaks of smallpox and diarrhea, city officials deemed it essential to provide its […]

BRP - Raw Water Project - Birmingham Resilience Project (2020)

The Birmingham Resilience Project (BRP) is designed to provide a backup source of raw water from the River Severn to the water treatment works that serves Birmingham. During planned or unplanned outages of the primary water source, the raw water system will abstract water from the River Severn between October and March and supply 117 […]

BRP - Treated Water Project - Birmingham Resilience Project (2020)

Raw water has been collected in reservoirs in the Elan Valley in Wales and transferred 118km under gravity through an aqueduct to the water treatment works (WTW) in Birmingham for treatment and distribution to the city’s residents and industries since the beginning of the 20th century. The original infrastructure was constructed over 100 years ago, […]

Southern Water Eel Screens Programme - Design (2020)

The Eels Regulations 2009 require an eel screen to be installed within a diversion structure capable of allowing at least 20m3 of abstraction in a 24-hour period. The focus of this programme is to protect a threatened species of fish, brook lamprey (Lampetra planeri). This eel-like ancient fish is rare in the UK and ranges […]

Newark Waste and Water Improvement Project (2020)

Severn Trent have made a £60m investment in Newark-on-Trent upgrading the sewers and water supply network throughout the town. The project provided relief to some 400 homes and businesses from sewer flooding, and provided a robust water supply system which will serve the town for many years to come. The project included a 2.8km segmental […]

BRP - Treated Water Project - Birmingham Resilience Project (2019)

Since the beginning of the 20th century, raw water has been conveyed 118km from the Elan Valley in Wales, under gravity by aqueduct, to the water treatment works (WTW) in Birmingham for treatment and supply to the population of the city. The aqueduct has been in continuous service for over 100 years and requires some […]

Crankley Point Terminal Pumping Station (2019)

Crankley Point Sewage Treatment Works (STW) is a Severn Trent asset serving Newark-on-Trent, a town in Nottinghamshire with a population of just under 30,000. As part of the £60 million Newark Waste and Water Improvement Project, a new terminal pumping station (TPS) and screening chamber (SC) with outfall to the River Trent was required to […]

Ashford WwTW Sludge Treatment Centre (2018)

Ashford Wastewater Treatment Works is located in Kent alongside the M20 motorway, near the River Great Stour to the South of the Kent Downs (Area of Natural Beauty). The Town of Ashford has a population of approximately 110,000 people. The WwTW serves Ashford and surrounding areas and is supplied by five local pumping stations taking […]

BRP - Elan Valley Aqueduct (Severn Siphon) - Birmingham Resilience Project (2018)

The Elan Valley Aqueduct (EVA) is a Victorian water structure built between 1893 and 1904. The aqueduct transports water entirely by gravity from the Elan Valley in Wales to Frankley Water Treatment Works in Birmingham, and comprises a combination of cut and cover conduits, siphons and tunnels. Over 100 years on and this aqueduct still […]

BRP - Elan Valley Aqueduct (Nantmel and Frydd Wood) - Birmingham Resilience Project (2018)

At the height of the industrial revolution, Birmingham’s population was booming. Between 1800 and 1900, the city had grown substantially. An innovative solution was needed to provide its residents and industries with safe drinking water. James Mansergh had identified the Elan Valley as a source for water. With Birmingham located so far in land, the […]

BRP - Raw Water Project - Birmingham Resilience Project (2018)

The Birmingham Resilience Project aims to deliver a new water supply into Birmingham to allow extended planned maintenance shutdowns of the Elan Valley Aqueduct (EVA) as well as providing a back-up for any emergency events. The new supply will be brought into use every other year, for up to 50 days during months of October […]

BRP - Treated Water Project - Birmingham Resilience Project (2018)

Since the beginning of the 20th century, the Elan Valley Aqueduct (EVA) has conveyed raw water 118km from the Elan Valley in Wales under gravity to Frankley Water Treatment Works (WTW) in Birmingham. The treatment works was inaugurated at the same time as the EVA and has treated water, to supply the residents and industries […]

Sheeplands WTW (2018)

Sheeplands WTW is a groundwater treatment plant supplying an average of 12Ml/d to the Bowsey Hill Service Reservoir and local district zones. The site comprises of three boreholes, a ‘blending’ raw water supply main received from Harpsden WTW, a nitrate removal plant, GAC vessels, sodium hypochlorite storage and dosing, sodium bisulphite storage and dosing, single […]

Stanbridgeford STW (2018)

Stanbridgeford Sewage Treatment Works (STW), lies approximately one mile south of the village of Stanbridge in Bedfordshire and as of 2016, the population equivalent (PE) of the works was 15,305 and the domestic population served was 15,051. The treatment works discharge into the adjacent Ouzel Brook, a tributary of the River Great Ouse. Regulations from […]

Beckton to Riverside Sludge Mains Refurbishment (2017)

Thames Water Utilities Limited (TWUL) currently transfer a proportion of the wastewater sludge generated by Beckton Sewage Treatment Works (STW) in East London to Riverside STW using 2 (No.) 8km buried pipelines. These twin pipelines were originally installed in the late 1960s to pump sludge in the opposite direction from Riverside to Beckton where it […]

BRP - PAC Dosing System - Birmingham Resilience Project (2017)

Frankley Water treatment Works (WTW) provides a potable water supply to the metropolitan area of Birmingham, and has done so for over a century. Currently it treats water that is conveyed by gravity from the Elan Valley in Powys, Wales. Severn Trent Water is in the process of upgrading Frankley WTW to accommodate a new […]

BRP - Elan Valley Aqueduct (Bleddfa) - Birmingham Resilience Project (2017)

At the height of the industrial revolution, Birmingham’s population was booming. Between 1800 and 1900, the city had grown substantially. An innovative solution was needed to provide its residents and industries with safe drinking water. James Mansergh had identified the Elan Valley as a source for water. With Birmingham located so far in land, the […]

BRP - Treated Water Project - Birmingham Resilience Project (2016)

Frankley WTW is located to the south west of Birmingham city centre. It is the primary water treatment works supplying potable water to the city of Birmingham. The Elan Valley Aqueduct (EVA) is a 118km gravity aqueduct that conveys raw water from the Elan Reservoirs in mid Wales to Frankley WTW. The Elan Reservoirs are […]

Cowley Trunk Main Project (2017)

Following a burst on the existing 24” trunk main running along the Oxford Eastern Bypass in September 2014 causing severe flooding, Thames Water made the decision to replace the high risk section of the main to prevent future pipe failures. The Optimise Joint Venture delivered the £6m project, installing 2km of replacement trunk main along […]

East Worthing WwTW (2017)

East Worthing WwTW in Lancing serves the Worthing and Sompting catchments in West Sussex, located on the south coast of England. The works provides treatment capacity to a population equivalent of 136,000, which is expected to rise to 155,000 by 2030. East Worthing WwTW is an activated sludge plant providing secondary treatment for flows up […]

Littlemore Sewage Pumping Station (2017)

As part of the Thames Water AMP5 programme of works, Optimise was instructed to carry out an upgrade to the terminal pump station feeding Oxford STW located in Littlemore, Oxford. The terminal pump station handles flow from a population of 200,000 and the condition of the station was of considerable concern to the Environment Agency, […]