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The facts
Client: National Grid
Location: South Wales
Services: Project Management/Supervision,
Commercial Management, Health & Safety Advisor, CDMC,
Environmental, QA, Land Management, Surveying, Risk
Management
Sector: Utilities
Contract Type: NEC
Project Value: £1bn
Start/Completion: 2006 -
2009
The project
This £1bn project involved the
construction of a 300km pipeline from Milford Haven in West Wales
to Gloucestershire which is capable of carrying a fifth of the
natural gas required by the UK. Capita Symonds provided full
project services on two of the pipeline’s major sections in South
Wales - Milford Haven to Aberdulais (120km) and Felindre to Brecon
(80km).
The project means that vast double-hulled
vessels can now carry Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) from Qatar’s titanic
North Field - the world’s biggest liquid natural gas reservoir - to
Milford Haven. The Welsh terminal then regasifies the LNG and sends
it through the pipeline under high pressure to tens of thousands of
businesses and households across Britain and Europe.
Capita Symonds provided full project services
on two of the pipeline’s major sections in South Wales - Milford
Haven to Aberdulais (120km) and Felindre to Brecon (80km). The team
was involved from the project’s inception, undertaking feasibility
studies, including preparation of Environmental Impact Assessments,
risk workshops and design/route advice.
We continued on the project through the
tender, construction and commissioning stages, playing a major role
in the successful development of the design and construction of the
pipeline, as well as project managing the other consultants on the
scheme on behalf of client National Grid.
Original plans had involved the gas pipeline
going directly from the terminal at Milford Haven straight into the
existing National Grid at Aberdulais. However, the project
encountered problems with the available capacity of the original
connection point and had to be redesigned in the form of three
separate sections.
The resulting project included significant
sections of work through the Brecon Beacons National Park which
presented further challenges for the team including extensive
environmental studies, subsequent construction constraints and even
management of protestor action groups.
Nevertheless, thanks to intensive route
selection studies (including off-shore options) which involved
comprehensive environmental management packages, innovative
construction techniques and an integrated team approach,
construction work was able to begin on time in October 2007.
In all, the pipeline made 140 river and water
crossings, passed under 19 railway lines and 216 roads - two of
them motorways. The project also resulted in two significant
archaeological finds - a Roman road near Yscir, west of Brecon, and
a possible Bronze Age canoe near Milford Haven.
By the time the project was completed, over 50
people from various disciplines across Capita Symonds had been
involved in the project.