Lower Thames Crossing to be "greenest road ever built in the UK"

The Lower Thames Crossing will double road capacity across the River Thames east of London, with 22.9km of new road, including 4.16km twin-bore tunnels under the river. It will be the longest road tunnel in the UK.

Having pathfinder status, the project will work with a range of partners from major engineering companies to small businesses and universities, to test and scale-up ways of building and maintaining low carbon infrastructure. New ideas being considered include removing diesel from its sites by using only hydrogen and electric plant, and alternatives to carbon-intensive materials such as concrete and steel. The project will also consider carbon offsetting to address any residual emissions. The plans will be shared with the supply chain and wider industry, meaning the project could be a catalyst for change across the industry.

The project has already reduced its predicted emissions during construction by over a third through the design of its route and structures, and plans to use zero carbon energy sources, low-carbon materials, and reduce and reuse waste. Through its procurement process, the project will stimulate innovation throughout the supply chain by incentivising continual carbon reduction. National Highways says the move means the Lower Thames Crossing will be the UK’s first major infrastructure project to put carbon reduction at the heart of its procurement.

The announcement was made at the Road to Net Zero Construction event held today in partnership with the Thames Estuary Growth Board. Companies bidding to build the project set out their commitment to support National Highways’ low carbon goals, and speak to more than 170 local businesses about the role they might play. 

Lower Thames Crossing executive director Matt Palmer said that as a pathfinder project, the Lower Thames Crossing would “push the boundaries in construction and show how we and other large infrastructure projects can help the UK reach net zero”.

“But we can’t do it alone. We have an ambitious partner in the Thames Estuary Growth Board, and we’re delighted that over 500 local business have already signed up to our SME directory and registered their interest in supporting the project; it’s an incredibly exciting opportunity to develop low carbon innovations that can help them be at the forefront of a new green economy in the region,” said Palmer.

The project’s procurement process will move to the next stage next month as the shortlisted bidders for the roads north of the Thames and Kent roads contracts, worth a combined £1.9bn (US$2.5bn), will be invited to tender. The procurement for the £2.3bn (US$3.08bn) tunnels and approaches contract will progress later in the year.

The companies shortlisted for the design and build contracts are:

Kent roads of the tunnel (£600m/US$800m):

• BFV JV – BAM Nuttall, Ferrovial Construction (UK) and VINCI Construction Grands Projets
• Costain
• Kier Eiffage JV (KEJV) – Kier Highways and Eiffage Génie Civil
• Skanska Construction UK

Roads contract north of the Thames (£1.3bn/US$1.74bn):

• Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering
• Kier Eiffage JV (KEJV) – Kier Highways and Eiffage Génie Civil

The companies shortlisted to tender for the £2.3bn (US$3.08bn) tunnels contract are:

• BFV JV – BAM Nuttal, Ferrovial Construction (UK) and VINCI Construction Grands Projets, supported by Atkins, Tecnica y Proyectos SA (TYPSA) and Stantec UK
• Bouygues Murphy JV (BMJV) – Bouygues Travaux Publics and J Murphy & Sons, supported by Mott McDonald and Ove Arup and Partners
• Dragados-Hochtief JV (DHJV) – Dragados and Hochtief Infrastructure

National Highways will submit an application for a Development Consent Order for the new crossing later this year. The project’s procurement is continuing in parallel to the consent to enable construction to begin quickly, should permission be granted.