Building on its successful relationship with Northern Ireland Water, WYG, has won a contract to help improve water quality for residents of east Belfast.

The Leeds-based consultancy will be designing, managing and co-ordinating construction design management on a new £750k project to reduce out-of-sewer spills to water courses. This project forms part of a larger eight year framework.

For over seven years, WYG has been managing Northern Ireland Water’s Integrated Wastewater Framework which is designed to reduce the risk of flooding and improve water quality for the eastern region of Northern Ireland.

Commenting after the project award, Ernie Spence, Associate, WYG said: “Since the project is located centrally in the Connswater Greenway scheme, the design and construction work will be undertaken considerately to its surroundings.

“The Greenway will create a 9km linear park through east Belfast, following the course of the Connswater, Knock and Loop Rivers, which makes the location environmentally sensitive.

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“Throughout the project we will be focused on alleviating disturbance to the surroundings, working in a sustainable manner through the design and construction phases. Our design involves converting concepts developed using hydraulic modelling into buildable solutions, whilst minimising environmental impact and providing value for money.”

Northern Ireland has inherited a legacy of acute underinvestment in water and sewerage systems, which has led to significant disparity when compared with the rest of the UK’s water industry, in particular in the areas of out of sewer flooding and water mains leakage.

However, last year saw some £778m being invested in water and wastewater infrastructure – £174m in water treatment and storage facilities and mains improvement and £614m in wastewater collection and treatment systems.

Grahame Millar, Northern Ireland Water, said: “With the experience WYG holds within the wastewater arena, it gives us the assurance that the work will be done sustainably whilst satisfying our budgetary and programme constraints.

“There are approximately 795,000 domestic, agricultural, commercial and business properties in Northern Ireland connected to the public water supply and 660,000 connected to the public sewerage system. Great investment is being put into our systems and services at present which will result in major benefits to public health, the environment and the economy.

“It is reassuring to have a professional experienced company, like WYG, helping us in achieving our objectives.”

(GK/KMcA)