Thames Water completes major investment in North London to future proof its water supply

• Thames Water has completed major water mains replacement across North London to mitigate leaks and bursts, reduce overflows and future proof its clean water supplies
• Over £50m of mains replacement projects completed across the last five years (2020-2025)
• Thames Water is set to continue infrastructure upgrades across North London over the next five years as part of its biggest upgrade to its network in 150 years

Thames Water has recently completed over £50m worth of infrastructure upgrades across North London to boost resilience, mitigate the risk of bursts and leaks and future proof its clean water supply and meet our customers’ demands to deliver safe and resilient water supplies.

Thames Water assets have an average asset age of 79 years compared to the industry average of 56 years and is the only company in the industry where almost 40% of its assets are over 100 years old.1 Thames Water’s network also faces challenges from the UK’s population continuing to increase, with the highest population density in the industry. Population growth in London between 1981 and 2022 was 30%, compared to 19% across the UK.

Upgrading the pipes is vital to mitigate the risks of bursts, supply interruption and traffic disruption.

Completed clean water infrastructure projects in North London include:

• Seven Sisters Road: 2.4km of pipe, £21.1m scheme
• Fortis Green: 2.4km of pipe, £16.8m scheme
• Regent’s Park: 1.4km of pipe, £12m scheme
• New River: 778m of flooding defence, £6m scheme
• Offord Road – 722m of pipe, £1.8m scheme

The mains replacement schemes above used a mixture of traditional open-cut trenching, sliplining and microtunnelling. The project to refurbish the New River’s embankment used a Giken Piling Rig, modern technology which reduces noise and vibration during construction.

Mark Taylor, Director of Delivery, London Infrastructure, Thames Water said:

“Our purpose is to deliver life's essential service, so our customers, communities and the environment can thrive. 

“The effects of population growth and climate change are putting increased pressure on our ageing water pipes across the capital. We have a long-term commitment to improving infrastructure resilience, environmental performance, and service to customers and our mains replacement programme across London is vital to achieving this.

“We’ve been targeting the areas that need upgrading the most, first, and will be continuing to invest in the capital with further mains replacement projects over the next five years.”

Thames Water is embarking on its biggest network upgrade in 150 years over the next five years (2025-2030) as part of its £20bn ground-breaking programme designed to upgrade water and wastewater services for generations to come.

This upgrade will give greater resilience to more extreme weather patterns, meet the continuing challenge of population growth and support economic growth in the UK.

Local authorities where new projects have begun:

• Brent
• Enfield
• Tower Hamlets
• Waltham Forest
• Westminster
• Barnet
• Newham

Over 30km of pipe will be re-laid in the first year of the investment across 11 projects in the seven boroughs above and the total investment will be around £60m.

Over 10km of this will be in Brent, a £14m project, while a seven-kilometre project is underway in Enfield which will cost £15m.

More information around specific Thames Water improvements can be found on their website.