Harworth Colliery Shaft Treatment

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UK Coal enlisted the services of SES' Special Projects to provide design, project management, procurement and specialist personnel for the shaft treatment project as part of the mine abandonment. This included the design of steel soffits for both shafts to provide a foundation for demolition caps and to enable the site to be utilised for gas production post the mine closure.

SES project engineers provided the technical expertise at design stage and supported the project to completion. Our skilled team of ‘shaftsmen’ installed the steel soffits and then afterwards constructed the steel reinforced concrete demolition caps to secure and seal off the shafts which are in excess of 900m deep.

Working in an extremely challenging environment from a safety and operational perspective SES completed the works accident and incident free and ahead of schedule. SES also constructed a steel reinforced concrete seal in the 5m² ventilation connecting tunnel (known as the ‘fan drift’) between the shaft and the mine ventilation fan as part of the project.

Testimonial

Just a note to say thank you to your company (SES) and your team, for their assistance, professionalism & effort in completing the works at Harworth Colliery, both teams integrated &  interacted excellently with John Shone & Glen Mather providing a cohesive professional team.  

The whole project was completed without a single safety accident or issue, which is a credit to all concerned, would you please pass on my gratitude to all your staff for their commitment and effort, particularly Stuart Bullock, John Shone, Mark Slater and Alan Tattersall, who made an extremely complex task look quite routine, I would certainly highly recommend the use of your company in any future works.  

After 37 years in this industry I never had the foresight to believe I would close Harworth  Colliery, working with your team and achieving the excellent standards with regards to safety, workmanship and costs have made an extremely sad task, a very pleasing and rewarding experience.

On behalf of UK Coal and the team at Harworth, once again thank you.

Dave Lewis, Colliery Manager.