Nominate/Submit Case Studies

Become a Featured Company

Donegan Civil Engineering

Caisson Shaft Installation, York

Innovatively installing three deep caisson shafts under a challenging high‐water table for Moortown Construction and Kier’s £850,000 York development.

By: Valentine Donegan

Published: August 4, 2025

Caisson Shaft Installation, York

Client: Moortown Construction / Kier

Value: £850,000

Project Description/Main Operations

V J Donegan and Co Ltd was engaged to undertake the critical installation of three caisson shafts as part of a major development in York. These shafts, measuring between 2.1m and 9m in diameter and reaching depths of up to 11m, form the foundation of the site’s drainage and pumping station infrastructure.

The high-water table in the area posed significant challenges, requiring careful planning and innovative techniques to ensure successful project delivery.

V J Donegan’s solution encompassed:

Innovative Engineering Solutions: The project team implemented exterior interlocking piles to stabilize the excavation and employed internal dewatering techniques to manage groundwater.
Collaborative Approach: Close coordination with Moortown Construction and Kier ensured alignment with overall project objectives and seamless integration of our works into the larger scheme.

The successful completion of the caisson shaft installations has provided a robust foundation for the development’s drainage and pumping stations, ensuring the long-term resilience of the site’s infrastructure.

Wilmslow WwTW – Civil Engineering Works

Reinforced concrete bases & chambers, containment & access upgrades, and ducting & drainage to create a clean, MEICA-ready interface

Westminster Road, Macclesfield

Construction of an access chamber onto an existing brick culvert to provide an outfall for surface water

Failsworth WwTW

Client: LiMA for United Utilities Value: £550,000 Project Description / Main Operations As part of a new Waste Water Treatment centre in Failsworth, Greater Manchester, there was a requirement to cross Green Lane, opposite the site, with several ductile iron pipes ranging from 1000mm to 250mm. Additionally, 3 no. 150mm ducts for telemetry were also […]

Goole Pumping Station – Goole, East Yorkshire

Reducing flood risk to surrounding residential and industrial areas in Goole

Green Asset Lab Enabling Works

New Victoria - Segmental Shaft Sinking, Manchester

Client: Vinci Project Description/Main Operations The VJ Donegan Civil Engineering team were approached by Vinci two years before works on the project commenced and developed the operations to enable both the diversion of an existing outfall running across the site, and also provide a new site connection for combined flows into the surrounding network. Scope […]

Chester Northgate Tunnelling – Chester City Centre

Client: Vinci PLC / Cheshire West & Chester City Council Value: £2,700,000 Project Description/Main Operations V J Donegan & Co Ltd were approached to work alongside Vinci PLC and Cheshire West & Chester City Council to provide a constructable solution for a new surface water outfall, from the Northgate Development Phase 1 in the heart […]

The Airfields, Deeside

Large-diameter caisson and dewatering for regeneration infrastructure at the former RAF Sealand.

Medlock CSO Screening

Client: Costain / United Utilities Value: £2,200,000 Project Description/Main Operations V J Donegan and Co Ltd was enlisted to collaborate with Costain in via their MSP Framework in partnership with United Utilities on the Medlock CSO Screening project. This initiative aimed to minimize the environmental impact of combined sewer overflows into the Medlock watercourse, an […]

Liverpool Waters, Stanley Dock – Civil Engineering Projects, Liverpool

Client: Excalon / Vital Energi Value: £600,000 Project Description/Main Operations V J Donegan & Co Ltd were approached by Excalon to provide a solution for laying 2 no. 710mm dia. gas pipes across Great Howard Street. Due to the high concentration of utility services within Great Howard Street it was deemed that an open-cut technique […]

Fujiclean Tank Installation – South Cheshire

Pioneering the FujiClean wastewater treatment system at Calverhall in collaboration with Costain and United Utilities.

Caisson Shaft Installation, York

Innovatively installing three deep caisson shafts under a challenging high‐water table for Moortown Construction and Kier’s £850,000 York development

Hathershaw Fields CSO & Bardsley WwPS (2023)

Improving water quality in the River Medlock by installing new powered screens at existing sites in Oldham, Greater Manchester

Blackburn and Darwen WwTWs (2022)

Both Blackburn WwTW and Darwen WwTW discharge final and storm effluent to watercourses that are tributaries of the River Darwen, feeding into the River Ribble estuary and the bathing waters of the Fylde coast in the Irish Sea. At Blackburn WwTW, which provides treatment for a population equivalent (PE) of approximately 400,000, construction of the […]

Blackburn and Darwen WwTWs (2021)

Blackburn WwTW was constructed in the 1960s and principally treats domestic crude sewage from the Blackburn catchment, with two major additional contributions; a high strength trade effluent from the InBev brewery and an ammonia rich return liquor flow from the sludge treatment plant. The key river water quality/water framework directive parameters within the revised environmental […]

Blackburn and Darwen WwTWs (2020)

Blackburn WwTW, located at Samlesbury near Blackburn, serves a population equivalent (PE) of approximately 400,000 and discharges final and storm effluent to watercourses that are tributaries of the River Darwen, feeding into the River Ribble estuary and ultimately into the bathing waters of the Fylde coast in the Irish Sea. Over the last 12 months, […]

Blackburn and Darwen WwTWs (2019)

Both Blackburn WwTW and Darwen WwTW discharge final and storm effluent to watercourses that are tributaries of the River Darwen, feeding into the River Ribble and ultimately impacting on the bathing waters of the Fylde coast. Following on from the Blackburn and Darwen WwTWs (2017) article and Blackburn and Darwen WwTWs (2018) article, both published […]

Medlock Quality Programme (2019)

Medlock Quality Programme is part of United Utilities AMP6 investment programme across the North West and is the third Nereda® Reactor Plant to be operated by United Utilities. The scheme can be split into two distinct areas: (i) the upgrade of Failsworth WwTW to meet the new discharge consent and reduce the volumes of spills […]

Paisley Tunnel Project (2019)

Scottish Water’s £17m Paisley Environmental Project, which started in October 2016, is the largest of its kind that Scottish Water has ever made in Renfrewshire. The project is part of the company’s £250m, six-year programme of work, launched in 2013, to improve river water quality and the natural environment and tackle flooding across the Greater […]

Station Road (Queensbury) Sewer Flooding (2018)

Mott MacDonald Bentley (MMB) carried out an investigation for Yorkshire Water Services into the flooding of five properties in Queensbury in West Yorkshire during periods of heavy rainfall. The investigation concluded that the combined sewer system in the residential cul-de-sac had insufficient capacity during a 1 in 10-year storm return event, resulting in overland flow […]