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Paisley Tunnel

Saucelhill Park, Paisley, Renfrewshire.

Mile-long Interceptor sewer tunnel with a diameter of up to 1.5 metres, constructed from 2016-19 & lined with concrete piping. It was drilled through sedimentary bedrock at depths of between 4m and 20m to reduce flood surge overflow into the White Cart Water & Espedair Burn. Its route starts near Paisley's Bridge Street car park and extends across the Watermill Hotel car park / Lonend before following Saucel Street & passing under the railway line near Canal St Station. From there it passes through Saucel Hill (Park), continuing along Espedair Street, Rowan Street and Kilncroft Lane/Neilston Road.

Alternative Names: Saucelhill Tunnel

Notes: Given coordinates are for the 19.8m-deep circular shaft within Saucelhill Park. A similar shaft was sunk into a lane between Espedair Street & Stockholm Crescent at [NS 4841 6313].

"The route of the sewer tunnel was chosen to minimise disruption to local residents, road users and businesses. It has a diameter of up to 1.5m and was installed at depths of between 4m and 27m. A total of 14 shafts were installed along the sewer route... Tanya, the second machine, was launched from close to Espedair street, has a diameter of 1.5m and weighs 23 tonnes and tunnelled 270m at depths of 27m beneath Saucelhill Park, removing 5000 tonnes of rock before terminating adjacent to the Canal Street station. This drive commenced in January 2019 and was completed in March 2019 taking 9 weeks in total. The third Herrenknecht machine, the smallest at only 1000mm diameter, completed one tunnel starting within Espedair Street and tunneling 94m along Barterholm road in just 13 days." [Water Projects]

"The tunnel was constructed using the 'closed face' method, with pipe-jacking used to install the pipes behind a remotely-controlled and guided microtunnel boring machine (MTBM)." [Water Projects]