Business news

NI Water Completes Phase One – Sicily/Marguerite Park Flood Alleviation Project

Posted By:
Northern Ireland Water

31st Jan 2023

NI Water is pleased to announce the completion of phase one a major Flood Alleviation Project to upgrade the sewerage infrastructure and substantially reduce the risk of out-of-sewer flooding in the Marguerite Park area of South Belfast.

Work on this major project commenced within the grounds of Musgrave Park in April 2021 and was recently completed ahead of schedule. BSG Civil Engineering Ltd was appointed as the main contractor for this phase, with Atkins providing Project Management services.

Mark Sefton, NI Water’s Senior Project Manager said:

“The aim of this £8million project, which was funded through the Living With Water Programme (LWWP) which is led by the Department for Infrastructure, was to increase the capacity of the existing network, reducing the risk of out-of-sewer flooding and environmental pollution within the Marguerite Park area. 

“The local community will benefit from the improvements for many years to come, and the completion of phase one will also pave the way for future work in the Sicily Park area.

“NI Water and our project team appreciate that work was disruptive in a busy residential area and would like to sincerely thank the local community and all our stakeholders for their patience and support throughout this essential scheme.”

Phase one involved laying a total of 1.3km new large diameter sewers, which were constructed from the “Grovelands” area of Musgrave Park, through the park grounds, Musgrave Park Hospital, Malone College, crossing under the railway line and through private lands into Diamond Gardens/Marguerite Park and Donegall Park.

800 metres of the new sewers were constructed using underground micro-tunnelling techniques, which included crossing under the main Belfast to Dublin railway line. Tunnelling techniques significantly reduced disruption to our customers, particularly within Musgrave Park/Musgrave Park Hospital and Malone College.

The final section of pipelaying was laid throughout Diamond Gardens, Marguerite Park and Donegall Park.

This £8 million investment is an excellent example of what can be done when the necessary funding is in place. NI Water looks forward to the necessary funding being put in place across its full ‘PC21’ six-year investment period to 2027.

The Living With Water Programme presents how we can work together to deliver integrated sustainable solutions by managing and addressing future flood risk needs across Belfast so that our environment will be enhanced and our local economy can grow.

For further information on Living With Water log on to:

www.infrastructure-ni.gov.uk/topics/living-water-programme

View the project video here: https://youtu.be/d0hAjArQtPQ