Atkins announces reaching milestone in Bahrain ’s first district cooling project

The Tabreed Northshore District Cooling project, for which Atkins is lead consultant and construction supervisor, announced the completion of two 87-metre micro-tunnels underneath the King Faisal Highway.

At a depth of more than 10 metres below ground, the new tunnels, claimed Atkins, were driven below the highway with zero impact on the heavy traffic above, at an average rate of close to six metres per day, using a laser guidance system. The team achieved driving tolerances within ± 20mm in each tunnel.

The parallel 900mm-diameter insulated carbon steel pipes carry district cooling water from the Diplomatic Area chiller plant to Bahrain Financial Harbour, Reef Island and other Northshore developments, the consultant revealed.

The Diplomatic Area chiller plant, which is nearing completion, has been designed to incorporate capacity for future growth, and will supply chilled water to the Bahrain World Trade Center, among other developments on the south side of King Faisal Highway, it added.

According to Atkins, the project is the first of its kind in Bahrain, and will provide a network of chilled water and cooling to Manama’s densely populated urban areas, significantly reducing the cost of providing air conditioning to offices, residential towers and shopping malls.

Using a Herrenknecht microtunnelling machine Al Husam International and Atkins undertook the project on behalf of Tabreed District Cooling.

Atkins’ Site Operations Manager, Ian Cordingley, said: “It’s not easy to drill through 86-metres of earth with such little disturbance to the surroundings. The team did a fantastic job in ensuring we deliver a chilled water network that will make the cooling of developments in Manama more economical and help in reducing Bahrain’s carbon footprint.”

It is anticipated that Tabreed’s Northshore District Cooling project will be completed this summer and will supply 22,800 metric tonnes of chilled water per day.