A $300M environmental improvement scheme bringing cleaner seas to Sussex

Brighton & Hove WwTW Scheme

Stantec worked collaboratively with Southern Water to deliver major environmental improvements at Brighton and Hove Wastewater Treatment Works in Peacehaven, East Sussex, UK. The Works treats the 95 million litres of wastewater generated each day to required European standards. The treated effluent is returned to the environment 2.5 kilometres off-shore.

Stantec designed the wastewater treatment works, Marine Drive pumping station, and Portobello pumping station. We were also responsible for the detailed design of the civil, architectural, and reinforced concrete works, the pumping station superstructures on the sewerage system, and the local sewer connections.

Environmental impact was a key focus in the planning approval process. Additionally, odour, noise, and visual impact were three main considerations. Stantec ensured that it took all environmental requirements into account when carrying out the detail design, working in collaboration with multiple designers and contractors who carried out assessments in the planning phase of the scheme.

The wastewater treatment includes a high-rate primary sedimentation process, a high-rate biological treatment process, screens and screenings processing, and grit and grease removal and processing. Indigenous sludge, plus imported sludges from other sites is anaerobically digested on site prior to dewatering. The biogas produced by the digestion plant is used in a CHP plant to produce electricity. An extensive odour control system extracts and treats odours linked to the treatment processes on site. The three-stage process, consisting of an acid and alkali treatment plus carbon polishing, is applied before the cleaned air is released through a chimney-like structure.

We designed this state-of-the-art wastewater treatment works to be sunk into the landscape to minimise its visual impact and covered by one of the largest green roofs in Europe so that it blends in with the surrounding landscape.