Nereda scoops Carbon Reduction Award

EPS is celebrating the success of our Nereda® project at Anglian Water’s Great Dunmow Water Recycling Centre at this year’s New Civil Engineer TechFest Awards held in London recently. Entered by technology owner Royal HaskoningDHV, the project was the winner in Best Use of Technology: Carbon Reduction Award category.

Great Dunmow WRC is the second Nereda® granular activated sludge plant to be completed in the UK, and the first UK plant to be constructed under license to a contractor – EPS in this instance. It entailed the replacement of an obsolete MBBR works with a new 10,000 population equivalent Nereda® plant inclusive of new inlet works, storm tanks, tertiary solids removal and sludge thickening systems.

The project was delivered by Anglian Water’s delivery partner, @One Alliance, supported by EPS, RHDHV and a selection of supply chain partners. From the outset of scheme development, carbon reduction was set out as a key efficiency enabler and was an important factor in the selection of Nereda® as the process technology, as well as in site layout, delivery strategy, materials specification and equipment selection. The upshot of this was the adoption of above-ground construction, mostly in steel, and the use of off-site modular construction techniques.

Great Dunmow WRC took live flows in May 2018 and is currently completing its process proving period with Anglian Water now operating the plant on a day-to-day basis. Nereda® is providing on-going operational carbon savings through energy efficiency and zero chemicals.

We are so proud that Great Dunmow has been recognised in this way. The award is the culmination of a massive effort by dedicated teams in Anglian Water, EPS, Royal HaskoningDHV and the supply chain to deliver Nereda® in a different way to what has been seen before. The project has successfully applied a relatively new technology to meet relevant compliance and programme targets whilst outperforming against Anglian Water’s carbon reduction commitments.We wish to thank our partners in the project, as well as New Civil Engineer and the judges. We also wish to acknowledge our fellow nominees for this award and the quality of their pitches.

EPS’s journey with Nereda® began with the securing of an RHDHV licence five years ago, since when we have constructed and now operate three plants in Ireland on behalf of Irish Water. It continues with involvement in schemes currently under construction at Inverurie and Dungannon, and with a number of other projects already going through digital design in our Design & Manufacturing Centre of Excellence.