£7m Belfast Flood Scheme Reaches Key Milestone

A major milestone has been marked at the site of a £7 million Flood Alleviation Project in South Belfast.Scheduled for completion in early 2023, the Ravenhill Avenue scheme will reduce the risk of out of sewer flooding in the area. A major Tunnelling Machine, named ‘Timmy the Tunneller’, has now arrived on site for the project and will tunnel below the busy Ravenhill Road and help reduce disruption during construction. The tunnel will extend 75 metres from the edge of Ormeau Park up Ravenhill Avenue. Once the tunnelling works are completed, the more traditional open cut method will be used to construct the remaining sewers and manholes.This essential infrastructure project involves the upgrade of existing and installation of new sewers along a section of Ravenhill Avenue and surrounding streets. It will increase the capacity of the sewerage system in this area of South Belfast and update the existing infrastructure, some of which dates back to the early 1900’s.Work is taking place in phases, progressing along Ravenhill Avenue, Sunwich Street, Federation Street and Millar Street. The project team have worked well with the local community to minimise disruption, including employing the use of underground trenchless construction methods where appropriate.David McClean, NI Water Project Manager, was joined on site by representatives including Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon to mark the arrival of the machine.Geda Construction is the main contractor for this project, with AECOM providing design and Project Management Support.