Thames Water has finished a £15m rebuild of its Shortlands booster station. Its other Bromley job, 3.9km of new main at Biggin Hill, now runs to September 2027.

Thames Water has finished a £15m rebuild of its Shortlands Water Booster Station in Bromley, three years after starting it. The company announced the completion on Friday 28 August.

The work put in new pumping equipment and new power systems. Thames Water says supplies were kept running throughout. It says the station now carries more capacity, cuts the risk of bursts on the surrounding network, and gives its operators more room to move water around at peak demand. The project was a finalist for Project of the Year at the Association for Project Management awards.

“This investment ensures a more resilient and reliable water supply, both now and for the future,” said Roselyn Unegbu, Delivery Director for London Non-Infrastructure at Thames Water.

That is the finished job. The one residents are more likely to notice is not finished, and its end date has moved.

Biggin Hill: 3.9km of new main, now to September 2027

Thames Water is replacing 3.9km of clean water main in Biggin Hill and Leaves Green, at the southern end of the borough about five miles from Bromley town centre. Its project page for the scheme sets out where the work has reached:

  • work started on Main Road, at the roundabout junction with Downe Road, heading towards the Churchill Way roundabout
  • Leaves Green Road began in May 2025
  • from September 2025 until January 2026 the main route was paused while the council widened the road
  • Ashmore Lane and Milking Lane were completed during that pause
  • Leaves Green Road restarted in January 2026 and “this project will continue until September 2027”

When Thames Water announced the scheme in October 2025 it put the cost at £5.1m and said the work, begun in May 2025, would “take up to two years to complete”. Two years from May 2025 is May 2027. The company’s own project page now gives September 2027, about four months later, and records the four-month pause for the council’s road widening in between.

The reason for digging up the road in the first place is not in dispute locally. Peter Fortune, the MP for Bromley and Biggin Hill, is quoted in that announcement calling it “old infrastructure that has been breaking and leaking consistently for the last couple of years”.

Timeline of Thames Water's two Bromley schemes: Leaves Green Road main replacement starts May 2025, paused September 2025 to January 2026 for council road widening, restarted January 2026, the 15 million pound Shortlands booster station completed 28 August 2026, and the Biggin Hill main due to finish September 2027
Thames Water's two Bromley schemes, from the company's own announcements and project page. Graphic by Bromley Online.

What it means for you

If you live on or near the Biggin Hill route, four things from Thames Water’s project page are worth knowing.

  • Your water may be turned off. Thames Water says “your water supply may need to be switched off” and that a letter will be sent to anyone affected. If you have not had a letter, you are not on the list yet.
  • You can still get to your own door. The company says access to buildings and driveways will be available for residents and businesses.
  • Traffic marshals are there seven days a week. Thames Water says traffic operatives will be on site Monday to Sunday to manage the flow and ease congestion at peak times.
  • Quote the project code. For questions or complaints about this scheme, Thames Water gives 0800 316 9800 and customer.feedback@thameswater.co.uk, quoting BB00993673.

One practical point catches people out. A utility digging a borough road still needs a permit from Bromley Council. Every set of works must display a permit board naming who is digging and the permit number. Works without one can be reported through fix.bromley.gov.uk. We track the borough’s live closures on our Bromley roadworks and travel page.

The wider programme

Thames Water describes the Shortlands job as part of what it calls its biggest upgrade in 150 years. In the same announcement it says it has replaced more than 100km of mains since April 2025, which it compares to the distance from London to Oxford.

That is company framing rather than an independent measure, and the 100km figure covers the whole Thames Water region, not Bromley. On the company’s own numbers, the two Bromley schemes come to a little over £20m between them: £15m at Shortlands and £5.1m at Biggin Hill.

Sources