Kier joint venture secures £100m Birmingham Resilience Project contract

Kier Group has been awarded a 50/50 joint venture infrastructure contract with Severn Trent on the Birmingham Resilience Project (BRP) worth £100m.

The project has been described “as the biggest engineering challenge Severn Trent has ever taken on”.

Most of Birmingham’s water has come from reservoirs in Wales along the 73-mile Elan Valley Aqueduct (EVA) to Frankley Reservoir. 

The aqueduct was opened in 1906 and its age and maintenance work means it will need to be drained for extended periods.

The BRP will provide an alternative source of water during the essential maintenance periods and will be used for up to 50 days every other year.

A new pipeline is planned to take water from the River Severn at Lickhill, near Bewdley, and pump it 16 miles to a new treatment plant at Frankley water treatment works.

The overall project is worth £250m and is expected to be completed in 2020.