1200mm WaStop Installation

VolkerStevin have been working for the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) at the 3 Mills Studio Site in Stratford, East London.

3 Mills Studios is a centre for film, television and theatre production. The site of a former distillery in 3 Mills became a dedicated centre for television and film production work with the establishment in the 1980s of Bow Studios, 3 Mills Island Studios, and Edwin Shirley Productions. In the mid-1990s the three studios merged to become 3 Mills Studios.

ACE were contacted at the beginning of the year as they have an outfall onto the tidal river Thames – which had no non return valve fitted. The 1200mm pipe was therefore unprotected and subject to tidal ingress on every rising tide, offering no flood protection.

ACE were initially asked to consider the use of a flap valve. However, the existing headwall was set back from the river wall, so any flap valve installation would have required challenging civil work on the river bed which sits significantly below the wingwall coping. On top of this access to the site was extremely difficult and risky, and due to the tides working, windows were very short.

Following an initial site meeting and an extensive site survey – It was decided that a WaStop would be a much better solution. The WaStop’s ingenious design meant it could easily fit inside the existing infrastructure. This removed the need for costly civils, dramatically reducing the costs of the project. Another key driver for the WaStop was that it requires virtually zero maintenance.

Due to the difficulty in accessing the site, a large crane was required to lower the 1200mm WaStop down to the river bed. Also lowered down was a small excavator to aid in the installation and push the WaStop into its final position.

The key to the success of this project was good coordination with VolkerStevin, a solid survey, a great product design from Wapro and the ACE Operations Team years of experience.