A £22 million project to minimise flooding and environmental pollution in Airdrie’s South Burn is close to completion.
The Airdrie and Coatbridge Transfer Tunnel project has been implemented by Scottish Water and is one of the largest projects in the 2010-2015 investment period. Byzak is the main contractor for the project, which is currently entering the final stages of the scheme.
Scottish Water designed the scheme after the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) identified that the water quality in the South Burn had been reduced due to a number of storm water discharges in Airdrie. The aim of the scheme was to remove these discharges and redirect water into a new 1.2km storm transfer sewer located at the Airdrie Waste Water Treatment Works.
As part of the scheme, work is also been conducted to remove eight properties from the National Flood Risk register by reducing the risk of flooding in their area.
Scottish Water Project Manager, Brian Dalton, said:
“Main contractor Byzak has been an invaluable part of this project as they redesigned our original plan in order to radically reduce the amount of disruption this scheme could have had on the community.
“Their expertise led us away from our original route through a main street in Airdrie and allowed us to bypass this area altogether – which was a great idea. Byzak’s route did exactly the same thing that ours did, except it was quicker, cheaper and much easier. Everything about the redesign has really helped this scheme come together.
“In fact Byzak have been brilliant, both in terms of this project and their involvement with the local community. Throughout the Christmas period they handed out cards to local residents to thank them for their support and if any issues have appeared then Byzak have been on top of them straight away.”
Throughout the scheme Scottish Water and Byzak have continually worked with the local community to keep residents informed of the work’s progress. Newsletters, a dedicated website and national TV coverage have kept local residents up to date, whilst local school children were involved with naming two of the scheme’s tunnelling machines – Mollie the Mole and Wullie the Worm.
Mollie completed work on schedule with only two minor issues and Wullie the Worm completed a number of transfer tunnels without any problems.
Brian Dalton said:
“This project has been a major undertaking for Scottish Water as the South Burn feeds into the River Clyde catchment –Scotland’s equivalent of the Thames – and we’re currently involved in a big drive to get this river cleaned up.
“Work has taken place throughout a number of locations in Airdrie and we’re now on the final stages, with just a few finishing touches and commissioning works remaining.
“Once we’ve completed the scheme, we will mark the occasion with an official event. However, for local people the important aspect of the scheme is that the flooding risk will finally be removed from the area.”
DTECT Security
With over 30 years of experience in the security industry, DTECT Security’s Director Alexander Love founded DTECT Security in 2009 to become a leading provider of specialist security services and equipment. DTECT Security’s services include mobile surveillance vehicle patrols, static manned guarding and laser perimeter protection systems. The company also provides conventional CCTV systems – with on-site recording and monitoring – and rapid deployment CCTV towers.
DTECT Security is registered with CHAS, Constructionline and The National Association of Security Professionals. The company is currently working towards the SIA Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS) accreditation and ISO 9001.
On the Airdrie and Coatbridge Transfer Tunnel project DTECT Security provided the site with gatemen, static guards, laser perimeter protection systems and CCTV.
DTECT Security Company Director, Alexander Love, said:
“At DTECT Security we provide specially tailored security systems and personnel to all areas of the construction industry. At present we’re involved in many projects within the construction industry although the largest at present, other than with BYZAK on this Scottish Water project, is the Clyde Wind Farm at Abington, South Lanarkshire – the biggest wind farm site in Europe.”
Alexander Love added:
“We pride ourselves on our professional and diverse services and we’re the only security company in Scotland that is able to deploy mobile CCTV surveillance vehicles to sites.
“It has been a pleasure dealing with BYZAK on the various locations we have protected for them during this project.”
