Industry Insight Tours - Brighton Sewer
“The guidance and support you and the team have given my small company to be accepted by one of the biggest contractors in East Sussex has been pivotal.”
Marie Jones, The Office Your Office, Bodiam
Industry Insight Tours – Brighton Sewer
This September the Sustainable Business Network took 20 businesses underground on a tour of Brighton Sewers to find out what happens to our wastewater, as part of the Green Growth Platform ‘Industry Insight Tours’ series of events.
The helpful Southern Water tour guides led us through 366 metres of the 48km of sewers, beginning at the Palace Pier and emerging through a manhole in the middle of Old Steine Gardens an hour later.
Southern Water has been running tours of the Victorian sewers under Brighton for over 50 years, and it is the only place in the country where you can explore a working sewer. When they were built in the 1870s the sewers were designed to last 500 years and are still in use today. Our guide shared how bricklayers supposedly used all of the sand from Brighton beach to make cement, leaving us with the pebbles we know today.
Delegates learned the importance of not pouring fat and oil down the drain, as it leads to build-ups often known as ‘fatbergs’ which can cause flooding.
We also learnt how the Volks Railway Station at Black Rock, cleverly disguised as an ornate Victorian station, is actually a pumping station which transfers sewage and storm water to Southern Water’s treatment works in Peacehaven (February’s tour).
Jim Deal from the Royal Pavilion and Museums Foundation said “It was a great experience to visit the sewers; I can’t wait to see the next stage of the journey in Peacehaven.”
The next Industry Insight Tour is of Hollingdean Materials Recovery Facility on the 22nd October, followed by Peacehaven Wastewater Treatment Facility and Newhaven Energy from waste plant in 2015. Visit our website for more details: www.sustainablebusiness.org.uk/network/industry-insight-tours
The Green Growth Platform is a 5 year project lead by the University of Brighton that aims to help stimulate a thriving, local low-carbon economy. It offers a range of free and subsidised services: www.greengrowthplatfirm.co.uk
The Sustainable Business Network is pleased to be working in partnership with the Green Growth Platform to run a series of networking events, site tours and specialist seminars: www.sustainablebusiness.org.uk/network