Galliford Try secures £49m Yorkshire Water contracts

The larger of the contracts is worth £31m and will ensure that Blackburn Meadows meets the requirements of the EU’s Freshwater Fish Directive.

Galliford Try said this programme will last approximately 18 months.

The second scheme is worth £18m and will result in a new mesophilic anaerobic digestion plant at the site.

Greg Fitzgerald, chief executive of Galliford Try, said: “We are delighted to secure such substantial and significant schemes from one of our longest standing clients.

“We have considerable expertise and experience of anaerobic digestion from other water clients and we’re glad to have the opportunity to share this with Yorkshire Water.”

Yorkshire Water is spending a total of £70m on its Blackburn Meadows waste water treatment plant, a big sewage works near Meadowhall which treats most of Sheffield’s waste.

Its work is being regulated by the Environment Agency, which sets strict targets for the quality of discharges into rivers.

Blackburn Meadows discharges water into the River Don.

“The plant is going to receive a massive £70m overhaul, to ensure that the water we pump back into the Don can meet new, even tighter European standards,” said a spokesman for Yorkshire Water.

The refurbishment is designed to reduce levels of ammonia in the river for the benefit of fish and other wildlife.

Ammonia is found in a range of cleaning products and detergents, as well as in human urine.

Over the past few years, the improvements the group has made to its waste water treatment works have led to a significant improvement in the quality of the region’s rivers, including the Calder and the Aire.

“Yorkshire’s rivers are cleaner than they’ve ever been since the industrial revolution, but we’re not going to stop there,” said Yorkshire Water’s chief executive Richard Flint.

He added that this has recently led to an increase in riverside developments in cities such as Leeds and Wakefield.

Galliford Try has annual revenues of £1.3bn in housebuilding and construction.

The group’s construction order book stands at £1.6bn.

Of this £550m is in building, covering health and education projects through to commercial buildings and sports facilities. A further £900m comes from infrastructure projects, ranging from water, rail, highways and flood alleviation to renewable energy and land remediation. The final £150m comes from affordable housing contracting.

Galliford Try recently completed the £100m refurbishment and rebuilding of St Pancras Chambers in London and the new Court 3 at Wimbledon.