Latest news with #Tideway
The Guardian
07-07-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
London ‘super sewer' boss awarded £600,000 pay rise despite £100m cost overrun
The chief executive of the London 'super sewer' project has been awarded a £600,000 pay rise even as the firm revealed that the total cost had risen by £100m. Andy Mitchell received pay of £2.5m for the year to March 2025, up from £1.9m the year before, according to accounts published by the Thames Tideway tunnel builder, Bazalgette Tunnel Limited. The Tideway project is seen as a crucial upgrade to London's sewage system, which was still reliant on sewers designedduring the reign of Queen Victoria by Joseph Bazalgette. The sewer was a response to the 'Great Stink' of 1858. London's population has more than tripled since then, and water pollution has again become politically salient because of widespread disgust about sewage leaking into Britain's rivers and seas. That has led to close scrutiny of executive pay in the water industry, which is run as a series of privately owned monopolies. The 15.5-mile sewage tunnel runs mostly under the Thames river. It was originally due to be completed in 2024, but was delayed by the Covid pandemic. The total cost has now reached £4.6bn, the Tideway company said, up from £4.5bn reported last year, and more than £1bn over the initial £3.5bn estimate. Mitchell's pay increase was mostly driven by £500,000 added to his 'retention bonus', which hit £1.5m. He also received a base salary of £550,000, plus an extra bonus of £423,000 and unnamed 'benefits' and pension contributions worth £21,000. However, his total pay was lower than the £2.7m he received in 2023. Mitchell has previously worked on projects including Hong Kong airport, and the Thameslink and Elizabeth rail lines in London. The scale of the rewards on offer have been criticised, given that the Tideway company is funded by mandatory additions to customer bills. Luke Hildyard, director of the High Pay Centre, a thinktank that tracks executive pay, said: 'The culture of very high top pay and extreme concentration of income at the top of the distribution in the UK is a real problem for living standards. If so much of the wealth generated by our economy is captured by a tiny elite, it becomes much harder to improve life for everybody else. 'We need a plan to address this issue and more reasonable pay levels for quasi public service roles like this would be an obvious place to start. No doubt running Tideway is a challenging role, but it also carries considerable prestige and other non-financial rewards. It seems likely that a competent project manager could have been found without requiring such extravagant executive pay awards.' Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion Matthew Duncan, the Tideway company's finance director, received pay worth £1.7m, up from £1.3m last year. A Tideway spokesperson said: 'The Thames Tideway Tunnel is a world-class infrastructure project and one of the most complex in the UK. It has been delivered within the original timetable and within the cost range estimate for bill payers outlined before we started work, at around £25 a year. After nine years of construction and the work of around 25,000 people, it is now operational, protecting the River Thames from millions of tonnes of sewage pollution. 'Tideway's remuneration reflects the complexity of the engineering challenge and takes account of schedule, cost, health and safety, and sustainability goals. The increase is largely due to the payment of a long-term retention incentive that has supported consistent leadership and the successful delivery of this vital infrastructure project.'
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
King Charles Takes an Uber Boat Along the River Thames to Visit London's 'Super Sewer'
King Charles' busy week of royal events continued on the water! The monarch, 76, boarded a hybrid Thames Clippers Uber Boat in Westminster on Wednesday, May 7, for a ride along the famous London waterway. He met with employees as he traveled on the Mars Clipper, one of three boats the Thames Clippers company currently has serving 24 piers along the River Thames. He also chatted with CEO Sean Collins, learning more about the company's investments in hybrid and hydrogen power. 'It's a nice way [to travel],' the King remarked, according to The Daily Mail. Toby Melville - WPA Pool/Getty King Charles in London on May 7, 2025 King Charles in London on May 7, 2025 Related: King Charles Urges Climate Action on Behalf of His Grandchildren: 'They Will Be Living with the Consequences' After a 10-minute ride, the royal group disembarked for a visit to the Thames Tideway Tunnel project at Bazalgette Embankment. Known as the London 'super sewer,' the tunnel was officially opened by the King after 10 years of construction. Measuring 25km long and able to hold more than four million gallons of sewage, the Tideway project was built to help divert waste away from the Thames and keep the iconic river cleaner. The London sewers were originally constructed during the Victorian era, when the capital city held just around four million people. The system has struggled in recent years due to increased population, rainfall and climate change. TOBY MELVILLE/POOL/AFP via Getty King Charles in London on May 7, 2025 King Charles in London on May 7, 2025 Tideway CEO Andy Mitchell welcomed the King, showing off the project's high-tech tracking systems — which have measured nearly two billion gallons of waste diverted away from the Thames since August 2024 — and unveiling a plaque bearing his name. 'The King was fascinated with detail and the quality of the space,' Mitchell later said of the monarch's visit. 'The team were absolutely thrilled with his comments on the quality of the work here. In an average year, there are 40 million tons [of sewage] and we will be preventing the vast majority of that from going into the river.' King Charles also met with some of the 25,000 workers on the project and spoke with poet Dorothea Smartt, whose poetry about the River Thames is inscribed on the Tideway's ventilation columns. TOBY MELVILLE/POOL/AFP via Getty King Charles in London on May 7, 2025 King Charles in London on May 7, 2025 Related: King Charles Sports a Top Hat at First Buckingham Palace Garden Party of the Season with Queen Camilla The monarch has been a lifelong proponent of environmental causes and conservation projects, and his royal calendar often reflects that passion. Can't get enough of PEOPLE's Royals coverage? Sign up for our free Royals newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more! On Tuesday night, King Charles attended the premiere of Ocean with David Attenborough, the latest nature documentary hosted by the beloved English biologist, at the Royal Festival Hall in London. The film, which is set to debut in cinemas before airing on NatGeo and streaming on Disney+ and Hulu, focuses on sharing 'the story of how we can, and must, restore the glory of Earth's vast, interconnected waters,' according to a press release. Read the original article on People
BBC News
07-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
King Charles jokes with workers at Thames Tideway super sewer
Kings visits Thames Tideway Tunnel 'super sewer' The super sewer at Abbey Mills Pumping station photographed before completion last year King Charles has told workers at the Thames Tideway Tunnel a "humongous horror" of rain is bound to fall. He was responding to the information the "super sewer" worked better when it rained, as he marked the completion of the 10-year work. The tunnel has been fully connected since August last year and prevents half a million tonnes of sewage from entering the river every year. Tideway - the firm behind the project - said the it would reduce sewage pollution into the river by 95%.
Rhyl Journal
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Rhyl Journal
King jokes with workers during visit to London's super sewer
Charles visited the Thames Tideway Tunnel on Wednesday to mark the completion of the 10-year project, which is designed to protect the River Thames from sewage pollution well into the future. The 25km long sewer will intercept, store and ultimately transfer sewage waste away from the Thames with a combined capacity of 1.6 million metres squared. Charles met construction workers and storemen at the project (Toby Melville/PA) Tideway said the super sewer will reduce sewage pollution into the river by 95%.Thames Water will then operate the system as part of its London wastewater network. The King met construction workers and storemen at the project in Embankment, central London, to see first-hand the benefits of the system and see the technology in action. When told some sewage work is made easier when it rains, he joked: 'Don't worry, it's all going to come in one humongous horror.' The project took 20,000 people eight years to build, costing £4.5 billion, and is one of the largest engineering projects the capital has seen in recent years, stretching from Acton to Beckton. Charles was given a tour of the project by Andy Mitchell, chief executive of the Thames Tideway Tunnel Project (Toby Melville/PA) The tunnel is 7.2 metres in diameter, the equivalent of three London double-decker buses, and the two connection tunnels are five and two metres in diameter, respectively. Four giant tunnelling machines were used to excavate the main super sewer. During his visit, Charles met poet Dorothea Smartt, whose poetry about the Thames is printed on the site's ventilation columns. The King asked: 'Have you done a different poem on each one?' Thames Tideway chief executive Andy Mitchell, who gave the King a tour of the site, said: 'The King was fascinated with the detail, the quality, the humanity of the space. 'The team was absolutely thrilled the King commented on the quality. There's huge passion here.' The king travelled to the project on the Mars Clipper, an Uber Boat usually used by passengers (Toby Melville/PA) To get to the site, Charles rode the Mars Clipper, an Uber Boat usually used by passengers into and out of central London. He waved at a group cheering from a passing boat. To Uber Boat chief executive Sean Collins, the King asked: 'Does it (Uber Boat services) go all year round?' The pair laughed about Mr Collins' experience rowing on the Thames.
Western Telegraph
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Western Telegraph
King jokes with workers during visit to London's super sewer
Charles visited the Thames Tideway Tunnel on Wednesday to mark the completion of the 10-year project, which is designed to protect the River Thames from sewage pollution well into the future. The 25km long sewer will intercept, store and ultimately transfer sewage waste away from the Thames with a combined capacity of 1.6 million metres squared. Charles met construction workers and storemen at the project (Toby Melville/PA) Tideway said the super sewer will reduce sewage pollution into the river by 95%.Thames Water will then operate the system as part of its London wastewater network. The King met construction workers and storemen at the project in Embankment, central London, to see first-hand the benefits of the system and see the technology in action. When told some sewage work is made easier when it rains, he joked: 'Don't worry, it's all going to come in one humongous horror.' The project took 20,000 people eight years to build, costing £4.5 billion, and is one of the largest engineering projects the capital has seen in recent years, stretching from Acton to Beckton. Charles was given a tour of the project by Andy Mitchell, chief executive of the Thames Tideway Tunnel Project (Toby Melville/PA) The tunnel is 7.2 metres in diameter, the equivalent of three London double-decker buses, and the two connection tunnels are five and two metres in diameter, respectively. Four giant tunnelling machines were used to excavate the main super sewer. During his visit, Charles met poet Dorothea Smartt, whose poetry about the Thames is printed on the site's ventilation columns. The King asked: 'Have you done a different poem on each one?' Thames Tideway chief executive Andy Mitchell, who gave the King a tour of the site, said: 'The King was fascinated with the detail, the quality, the humanity of the space. 'The team was absolutely thrilled the King commented on the quality. There's huge passion here.' The king travelled to the project on the Mars Clipper, an Uber Boat usually used by passengers (Toby Melville/PA) To get to the site, Charles rode the Mars Clipper, an Uber Boat usually used by passengers into and out of central London. He waved at a group cheering from a passing boat. To Uber Boat chief executive Sean Collins, the King asked: 'Does it (Uber Boat services) go all year round?' The pair laughed about Mr Collins' experience rowing on the Thames.
