Collaborating with South West Water in Isles of Scilly

Last week, Glanville received a phone call from South West Water Operations Manager, Helen Richards, requesting assistance regarding a serious flooding incident on St. Marys, the largest island on the Isles of Scilly. South West Water took over the island’s sewer network in 2000 with a mostly unmapped network suffering from significant poor condition pitch fibre.

By Thursday morning, Engineering Manager, Geoff Willcocks was on a helicopter flight to assess the situation and advise on a practical and economic solution. After managing to persuade the flight crew to transport the ‘out of specification luggage size’ survey equipment in the limited luggage hold, 15 minutes later, the Glanville Environmental operating area had extended overseas and the company now had a site presence on the Scilly Isles.

Civil engineering resources and building materials are scarce on the islands with a population of under 2500, so a sleek practical solution was required. To avoid extensive lateral pipework and new trenchwork, the conversion of an existing council-owned surface water pipeline to become a combined sewer with modifications to existing connections provided the answer. The condensed work to adapt property-level connections combined with short lengths of lateral pipework would reduce disruption to the residents.

Following the return flight later in the afternoon with the obligatory Scillies souvenir fridge magnet purchase, a draft solution was drawn up by the evening and following a series of meetings, a Glanville gang will be flown out in due course to complete the works with plant and materials shipped out from Penzance. Despite the immediate logistical challenges of addressing the current problem, Glanville is in discussion with South West Water to establish a Scilly Isles hub to enable future reactive and planned jobs to be efficiently delivered.

This will enhance collaborative working with our key client and allow us to demonstrate flexibility and engineering capability in one of South West Water’s most challenging catchments.