Blackburn Starling & Company Limited

Blackburn Starling is an automation solutions provider and manufacturer of bespoke LV control systems including both conventional and intelligent motor control centres, switchboards, package substations, containerised equipment and instrumentation panels.

The company has extensive systems integration capability including MIS/MES, SCADA and PLC programming. Scope of supply includes site surveys, full in-house design and technical support service, project management, product manufacture (including metal fabrication), software programming, test, installation, commissioning, training, maintenance, equipment refurbishment and modification.

Blackburn Starling is a well respected company with a trading history of almost 150 years. The company offers an unrivalled combination of experience and capability and is a major provider of motor control centres into the United Kingdom. Blackburn Starling has supplied its products and services into the water sector in the UK for more than 50 years and has Framework Agreements directly with many UK Water PLCs. The company has an excellent reputation within its industry sectors and is renowned for being reliable and honourable.

Blackburn Starling is located on a 4 acre site in the Midlands area of the UK. The company operates its own design and manufacturing facility and a key strength of the company is the provision of complete in-house capability to cover all aspects of design, metal fabrication (including laser cutting), paint, assembly, copper, wiring, testing, delivery and installation (using our own hi-ab equipped lorry), commissioning, maintenance and training, ensuring we have full control of the design and manufacture of the entire scope of works. Product innovation and technical excellence are paramount and tailoring control systems to the special needs of its customers is Blackburn Starling’s greatest strength.

Keadby Terminal Assisted Outfall Pumping Station (2024)

Asset refurbishment to maintain flood resilience, while reducing both the operational carbon footprint and the overall impact of the project upgrade

Melton Mowbray STW (2024)

Construction of a new EBPR process stream operating in a UCT configuration and updating existing assets to improve the quality of the effluent

Goddards Green WwTW (2023)

Goddards Green Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW) is a Sludge Treatment Centre (STC) located near Burgess Hill in West Sussex. The catchment serves the towns of Burgess Hill, Hassocks, Hurstpierpoint and surrounding villages, providing for 54,789 people. The project implements an innovative approach to mitigate the likely odour from the processes at the WwTW to prevent […]

Ovingham Raw Water Pumping Station (2023)

Northumbrian Water’s Ovingham Raw Water Pumping Station (RWPS) is an abstraction station located on the north bank of the River Tyne in South Northumberland between the towns of Wylam and Ovingham. The station provides raw water from the River Tyne to Horsley Water Treatment Works (WTW) and the Great Southern Reservoir at Whittle Dene WTW. […]

Kinnerley WTW (2023)

Kinnerley WTW is located in rural Shropshire, approximately 10 miles north-east of Shrewsbury. The site treats around 4 Ml/d from a single groundwater source, after which it is pumped to Pant DSR to supply. The existing water treatment process on site includes two aeration towers, chlorine gas, three iron and manganese pressure filters, a balance […]

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 […]

Carlisle WwTW (2022)

Carlisle WwTW lies within United Utilities’ north Cumbria region. The site is located to the north-west of Carlisle’s city centre, on the banks of the River Eden, and serves the city of Carlisle. The treatment works receives domestic sewage, trade flows, and tankered imports, providing primary and secondary treatment prior to discharge to the River […]

Keadby Terminal Assisted Outfall Pumping Station (2022)

Keadby Terminal Assisted Outfall (TAO) Pumping Station is at the end of an intricate system of rivers and pumping stations within the low-lying Isle of Axholme catchment in Lincolnshire. It was originally built in the 1940s to discharge water from three parallel channels known as the Three Rivers, into the River Trent during high tides. […]

Rothbury STW (2022)

Rothbury Sewage Treatment Works is an unmanned Northumbrian Water site located 13 miles north-west of Morpeth, Northumberland. It is on the western valley slope of the River Coquet, a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest. The area is a popular year-round holiday destination with several caravan sites within the catchment. The original works dates from […]

Riding Mill Raw Water Pumping Station (2022)

When constructed in 1979, as part of the Kielder Transfer Scheme, Riding Mill Pumping Station was the largest pumping station in Britain. Abstracting flows from the River Tyne, it enables Northumbrian Water (NWG) to transfer water from Kielder Reservoir to the Derwent, Wear and Tees rivers, whilst supporting the operation of Mosswood WTW. The site […]

Foss Barrier (2020)

The Foss Barrier and associated pumping station is a vital asset in the City of York’s flood defences and was constructed in the 1980s in response to severe flooding five years earlier. In flood conditions, a mechanical gate can be lowered to stop rising waters in the River Ouse from flowing back up into the […]

Bray Keleher WTW (2020)

The Bray Keleher Water Treatment Works (WTW) abstracts and treats a maximum of 45 Ml/d of river Thames water and is located on Monkey Island Lane, Bray, between Windsor and Maidenhead. The works is of strategic importance in maintaining supplies to the western region of South East Water (SEW). As part of the final determination […]

Bray Keleher WTW (2019)

The Bray Keleher Water Treatment Works (WTW) abstracts and treats a maximum of 45 Ml/d of water from the River Thames and is located on Monkey Island Lane, Bray which is part way between Windsor and Maidenhead. The works is of strategic importance in maintaining supplies to the western region of South East Water (SEW). […]

Foss Barrier (2019)

In December 2015, the most severe floods in a generation hit the City of York. As water levels rose to the highest recorded on the River Foss, they entered the main control building at the Foss Barrier, which forms an important part of the city’s flood defences, rendering the facility inoperable. The Foss Barrier and […]

Seaham STW - Inlet Works Upgrade (2019)

Seaham Sewage Treatment Works (STW) receives and treats raw sewage from Seaham and the surrounding area. Constructed in phases between 1996 and 2001, the works serve a population of over 23,000 people. The works were originally built to ensure compliance with the Bathing Water Directive, as the site discharges directly into the North Sea via […]

Bellozanne STW (2018)

Jersey is the largest of the Channel Islands and is a Crown Dependency located off the coast of Normandy, France. The island is governed by the States of Jersey (SoJ) which has responsibility for the management of the Island’s finances and operation of its public services. Jersey does not sit within the European Union but […]

Deephams STW - A630 Major Upgrade (2018)

Thames Water’s Deephams Sewage Treatment Works (STW) is located in Edmonton, North London and treats a 989,000 population. Three drainage catchment areas of Lea Valley, High Barnet and Tottenham flow to the works, the ninth largest plant in the UK. The original effluent treatment process was built between 1956-1966 and had been updated at various […]

Foss Barrier (2017)

Built in 1987, the Foss Barrier forms an important part of the flood defences for the city of York. When a flood event is predicted, a mechanical gate can be closed to prevent rising waters in the River Ouse from backing up into the River Foss, preventing flooding to a large part of the city. […]

Horsley WTW (2017)

Northumbrian Water’s Horsley WTW serves around 800,000 people in the Newcastle and Tyneside area. The original works was constructed in 1977 and last extended in 2003. It draws its supply from the nearby River Tyne at Ovingham and the Whittle Dene complex of reservoirs fed from Kielder Water. The existing works has a capacity of […]

Grafham WTW Resilience (2016)

Grafham WTW is located near Huntingdon and serves a population of 829,000, including Northampton, Huntingdon and Bedford. It is estimated that approximately 614,000 of these would be affected by a major outage at Grafham WTW. As part of Anglian Water’s AMP5 Final Business Plan programme, the Grafham WTW Resilience scheme was identified to mitigate the […]

Woodmansterne WTW (2016)

Woodmansterne WTW is being upgraded as part of Sutton and East Surrey Water’s (now SES Water) AMP6 investment to secure water supplies for existing and future customers throughout its supply area. The scope of works is to increase the treatment capacity to a maximum raw water flow of 50Mld. Doosan Enpure has been appointed as […]

What we do:

Contractors: ICA

Designers: Control Systems Design

Flood Alleviation: Contractors | ICA

Renewables & Energy Management: Contractors | ICA

Reservoirs & Storage: Contractors | ICA

Water Pumping Stations: Products | Control Systems