Last tunnelling machine begins journey

Adhering to current safety guidelines, the team on Tunnel Boring Machine Selina at Chambers Wharf has broken ground on the final 5.5km stretch of the super sewer.

The machine is the last on the project to get underway journeying from Bermondsey to Abbey Mills Pumping Station and will complete the 25km-long Thames Tideway Tunnel under construction to intercept sewage overflows before they pollute the River Thames.

Selina was delivered to site last July travelling by water from Germany via the Netherlands and up the River Thames to the site near Tower Bridge. Lowered more than 60m below the ground at Chambers Wharf, Selina will tunnel on a slight decline toward the pumping station in east London. Six TBMs have been used to create London’s super sewer (with four already finished tunnelling).

The machine is named after Dr Selina Fox, who founded the Bermondsey Medical Mission in 1904. The small clinic and eight-bed hospital continues to this day as a local charity.