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Specialist Plant Associates

The trusted partner in equipment hire and engineering services

Specialist Plant Associates (SPA) has been setting the standard for equipment hire and engineering services in the tunnelling, construction, and civil engineering sectors for over 35 years. As part of the Joseph Gallagher Group, SPA is renowned for delivering reliable, high-quality equipment backed by unmatched expertise and dedicated customer support.

Our extensive fleet, including one of the UK’s largest selections of ventilation fans and our in-house designed air-powered grouting systems, has been instrumental in supporting complex projects across the UK and internationally. Designed for durability and performance, our equipment is built to meet the challenges of even the most demanding environments.

Why Industry Leaders Work with SPA

Extensive inventory: A comprehensive range of reliable equipment, ready to meet the needs of diverse projects.
Tailored solutions: Bespoke services, from site assessments to equipment customisation, ensuring the right fit for every project.
Proven expertise: Decades of experience combined with deep technical knowledge and innovation.
Reliable delivery: Rapid, next-day delivery across the UK, with same-day options available for key items.

Delivering Quality, Innovation and Reliability for Every Project

SPA combines innovation, experience, and customer focus to provide dependable equipment and services that help projects succeed. By offering robust solutions tailored to individual needs, SPA ensures clients can complete projects efficiently, safely and on schedule.

Our commitment to quality and reliability has earned us the trust of leading contractors and engineering firms. From small-scale operations to large infrastructure projects, SPA delivers the expertise and equipment needed to achieve outstanding results.

Guildford STW (2024)

The challenges of constructing a new sewage treatment plant on an historical landfill site

Horsham New WwTW (2024)

Southern Water’s multi-million pound upgrade to boost the water quality of the River Arun and cater for the significant growth forecast

Newthorpe STW (2024)

Improving sustainability & resilience of sewage treatment in the Erewash Valley

Project Pipeline - County Durham & Tees Valley (2024)

Update on construction of a large diameter strategic water main including a challenging crossing of the River Tees

Anglian Water's Strategic Pipeline Alliance: Norwich to Wymondham Pipeline (2023)

Anglian Water’s Strategic Pipeline Alliance (SPA) is delivering one of the largest infrastructure projects in AMP7; a new water main network, hundreds of kilometres long, which will allow Anglian Water to move water around the region from areas of surplus to areas of deficit, future-proofing supply to customers. The network is being constructed in 11 […]

Beckton STW (2023)

Beckton Sewage Treatment Works (STW) is the United Kingdom’s largest STW serving a population equivalent of over four million. The AMP7 project is a major £185m investment to increase the site’s treatment capacity for growth, by a population equivalent of 200,000, by extending the existing activated sludge plant (ASP). Beckton STW will receive stormwater from […]

Finham Advanced Anaerobic Digestion (2023)

Finham STW, situated near Coventry in the West Midlands, is Severn Trent’s fifth largest wastewater treatment works and treats over 115 megalitres of effluent a day from half a million people. The works processes indigenous sludge on site as well as accepting exports from local, satellite sites, producing final effluent, ‘cake’ and biogas as outputs. […]

Guildford STW (2023)

Guildford Borough Council (GBC) are progressing with the development of approximately 41 hectares of brownfield land located along the west bank of the River Wey as it runs through central Guildford and north through Slyfield Industrial Estate. Guildford Sewage Treatment Works (STW) lies within this land and requires relocation in order to enable the development […]

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 […]

Newthorpe STW (2023)

North-west of Nottingham and separated by the River Erewash, two of Severn Trent’s sewage treatment works are situated within 2.5km of each other; part of the legacy of the times of the public statutory undertakers. Heanor Milnhay STW in Derbyshire has a dual-stream process, with part of the flows going through trickle filters and the […]

Tees & Central Strategic Pipeline: Phases 1 & 2 (2023)

With approximately 60km of new 800/900mm pipeline required to replace the existing potable water mains, some of which are over 150 years old, the Tees and Central Strategic Pipeline will directly improve water quality, network resilience and operability within the Tees Network. The pipeline will serve approximately 50,000 properties and link a number of strategic […]

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 […]

Burnley WwTW Catchment Strategy (2022)

The Burnley Integrated Catchment Scheme is one of United Utilities largest AMP7 projects with a value of over £60m which commenced in 2020. The project is being delivered by Advance-plus, a joint venture between MWH Treatment, J Murphy & Sons and Stantec UK; United Utilities’ framework construction delivery partner (CDP). In UK Water Projects 2021 […]

Bentley Ings Pumping Station (2021)

Bentley Ings Pumping Station is located within the River Don flood corridor, north-east of Doncaster and protects over 3,000 residential and 172 commercial properties from fluvial risk. The pumping station was constructed in 1942 and failed in 2007 during an extreme River Don flood event, resulting in flooding to over 1,000 properties. The aim of […]

Carlisle WwTW (2021)

Carlisle WwTW is in north Cumbria, which is part of United Utilities’ northern area. 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 […]

Tideway Central - Albert Embankment Foreshore (2021)

The Thames Tideway Tunnel project will upgrade London’s Victorian sewer system, which was developed by Sir Joseph Bazalgette in the mid-1800s for a population of 4 million people. Now with over 8 million Londoners, the system capacity, around 6mm per hour rainfall in the catchment, has been exceeded and the discharges of mixed water through […]

Tideway Central - Blackfriars Bridge Foreshore (2021)

The Tideway project is a new £3.8 billion, 25km long combined sewage storage and transfer system currently under construction in London. The project is divided into three design and build contracts: West, Central and East. The scope of works of the Central Section, the largest contract, includes 12.7km of 7.2m internal diameter tunnel and eight […]

Tideway Central - Falconbrook PS CSO Shaft (2021)

The Tideway project is a new £3.8 billion, 25km long combined sewage storage and transfer system currently under construction in London. The project is divided into three design and build contracts: West, Central and East. The scope of works of the Central Section, the largest portion of the project at over half its length, includes […]

Tideway Central - Main Tunnel Primary Lining (2021)

The Tideway Project is a 25km long combined sewage storage and transfer system along the River Thames in central London, UK. The project is split into three design and build contracts with the limits of each contract determined primarily by geology along the alignment. The contract for the Central Section, the longest and most challenging […]

Tideway Central - Main Tunnel Secondary Lining (2021)

In the heart of London, the largest project in the UK water industry is underway. Tideway is a new combined storage transfer system, commissioned to provide London’s sewage network with additional capacity and prevent pollution of the River Thames. The colossal scheme consists of a 25km TBM bored tunnel with numerous shafts, associated outfalls and […]

Tideway East - TBM Delivery (2021)

The Thames Tideway Tunnel is a new storage and conveyance tunnel running through the centre of London, mostly under the River Thames. The main tunnel, which is approximately 25km long with an internal diameter of 7.2m, will run from Acton in the west through to Abbey Mills in the east. The project has been split […]

Brentwood STW (2020)

Brentwood Sewage Treatment Works (STW) is one of Thames Water’s medium sized treatment works. The site is located to the north-east of London between Harold Wood and Brentwood in Essex. The STW treats foul water from the catchment serving West Brentwood, Warley and Pilgrims Hatch. It currently serves a population of 36,500 which will increase […]

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, […]

Tideway Central - Albert Embankment Foreshore (2020)

The Thames Tideway Tunnel is a major tunnelling project designed to mitigate the large-scale pollution problem involving the discharge of sewage into the River Thames. The project consists of a 25km long TBM tunnel under the river along with numerous shafts, culverts and connections tunnels constructed using sprayed concrete lined techniques. These will be used […]

Tideway Central - Chelsea Embankment Foreshore (2020)

The Chelsea Embankment Foreshore (CHEEF) site is one of the eight main sites in the Central Section of the Thames Tideway Tunnel. The site is located within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and will allow for the diversion to the main tunnel of approximately 280,000m3 of sewage that currently discharges into the river. […]

Tideway Central - Falconbrook Pumping Station (2020)

Falconbrook Pumping station (FALPS), located in the London Borough of Wandsworth, is the most westerly site on the Thames Tideway Central Section. FALPS is an active pumping station, discharging approximately 700,000m3 of untreated sewage directly into the River Thames each year via six storm pumps. The current station has a combined discharge volume rate of […]

What we do:

Civil Engineering: Civil Engineers | Shafts | Tunnelling Contractors

Plant & Equipment: HVAC | Tunnel Boring Machines | Ventilation