CEEQUAL Excellent (75.5%) – Design Only Award
Version 5, May 2017 | Flen, Sweden
Design: WSP
Assessor: Rebecca Johansson and Katarina Wärmark (WSP)
Project Summary
The ‘Flens framtida vattenförsörjning’ project aims to secure the future water demand and quality in Flen, Sweden. WSP was contracted for the design of a new 20 kilometre pipeline to transfer water from a nearby municipality to solve the water quality issues that currently affect the area. As the ground was already being prepared, the opportunity was taken to install a wastewater pipeline at the same time and so this was also included in the design. The design phase of the project was finalised in December 2015, resulting in a tender specification for the client to procure a contractor.
Sustainability Aims
CEEQUAL is being used increasingly in Sweden to give civil engineering projects a systematic approach to sustainability. WSP used CEEQUAL on the project as a way of evaluating and calibrating how sustainability can be further integrated in WSP’s working processes. The identification of possible enhancements on how WSP can deliver more sustainable projects was therefore an important aim. A further aim was to increase awareness among the designers on how they are working with sustainability issues and their contribution to a project’s sustainability performance.
Challenges and Achievements
Many of the sustainability aspects were handled by adjusting the extensive application for permission. The location of the pipeline was adjusted several times in order to avoid intrusion in areas of value and to minimise disruption. Areas with high cultural, historical, ecological or biological values were avoided, as well as areas with previous industrial/military activities that might contaminate the land. Existing pipelines and future development plans were taken into consideration to minimise the use of resources, ease maintenance, and increase flexibility.
Both the construction method and pipeline location were part of the design, taking account of direct cost for construction and long-term cost during operation. The construction method, and the timing and duration of construction, were key aspects affecting the extent of disruption. Gentle construction techniques and considerate times for construction were therefore chosen. Opinions from consultation with landowners and other parties of interest were highly valued in terms of where to locate the pipeline and when to perform construction.
The project selected materials based on information about their carbon footprint, durability, and flexibility during construction and maintenance. A calculation of the embodied water in the building materials specified was also performed.
How did CEEQUAL influence your project?
All sections of CEEQUAL were more or less integrated in the project during decision-making, but the work with the chapter ‘Physical Resources – Use and Management’ is the section where the biggest improvements were made. By using CEEQUAL on the Flens framtida vattenförsörjning project, WSP has developed a systematic approach to integrate sustainability within civil engineering projects. Additionally, several sustainability tools, custom-made for the designers at WSP Sweden and the projects WSP are involved in, were developed during this process.
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E39 Mandal øst – Mandal
