United Utilities engineers working on a major sewer improvement scheme in Manchester are bringing in a huge tunnel-boring machine to drive a 700-metre long tunnel through the heart of Trafford Park.

Nicknamed Gloria, tomorrow the 140 tonne machine will be moved to Manchester from a depot in Stoke, following refurbishment after  building a sewer in Hull.

David Baines, United Utilities senior project manager, said:

“We’re really looking forward to welcoming Gloria to the team. Everything we have done on site so far has been in preparation for her arrival.”

Since August 2013, the site team have been working at three sites - digging shafts and chambers up to 33 metres deep – large enough to accomodate an 11-storey block of flats.

The shafts will all be connected by the tunnel, which will be wide enough to drive a high roof van through. The whole system will work together to store 17,800 cubic metres of dirty water during storm conditions. The water, which would previously overflow into the Manchester Ship Canal, will then be taken away for treatment after the storm.

Two of Manchester’s arterial Victorian sewers run through the site on the way to the water company's Davyhulme wastewater treatment works. The project will bring the sewers up to modern standards with enough capacity to meet the demands of the growing city.

The Trafford Park sewer scheme is one of six similar projects worth more than £90 million being carried out by United Utilities along the Salford and Eccles corridor, with the aim of improving water quality in the Manchester Ship Canal. The major investment works out at around £900 per household in Salford.