Ground broken on UK’s first reservoir for 30 years

The Havant Thicket Reservoir – in the southern English county of Hampshire – is being built by the Van Oord subsidiary Mackley and Jones Bros Civil Engineering joint venture ‘Future Water MJJV’.

The 160-hectare Havant Thicket Reservoir should hold about 8.7 billion litres of water, with a daily supply capacity of 21 million litres, says Portsmouth Water, which is working on the project with neighbouring utility Southeast Water.

Tunnelled pipelines will be dug to transport water from nearby Bedhampton Springs to the reservoir, as well as take water out for supply to customers, when required.

The scheme also includes a new, green leisure hub for the area, with a visitor centre, wetland and network of footpaths, cycle routes and bridleways.

“The reservoir will cost around £340 million to complete and will be funded by payments from Southern Water for water resources over the long term,” say the project leaders.

It is scheduled to be completed by 2029.