London (Parliament Politics Magazine) – London “super sewer” boss Andy Mitchell received a £600k pay rise, despite the project running £100m over budget and being funded by customer bills.
As reported by The Guardian, the CEO of London’s “super sewer” project received a £600,000 salary boost as the company confirmed a £100m overspend.
According to accounts released by the Thames Tideway tunnel builder, Bazalgette Tunnel Limited, Andy Mitchell’s total pay rose from £1.9m to £2.5m in 2024-25.
How was Andy Mitchell’s £2.5m pay broken down?
Andy Mitchell’s pay rise was largely driven by a £500,000 extra to his retention bonus, which reached £1.5m. He also received a £550,000 base salary, a £423,000 bonus, and £21,000 in benefits and pension.
Mitchell earned less than in 2023 when his pay reached £2.7m. He previously led major infrastructure projects, including Hong Kong airport and key London rail lines.
What did Luke Hildyard say about Tideway boss pay?
Luke Hildyard, director of the High Pay Centre, criticised the rising executive pay culture, saying,
“The culture of very high top pay and extreme concentration of income at the top of the distribution in the UK is a real problem for living standards. If so much of the wealth generated by our economy is captured by a tiny elite, it becomes much harder to improve life for everybody else.”
He added,
“We need a plan to address this issue and more reasonable pay levels for quasi-public service roles like this would be an obvious place to start. No doubt running Tideway is a challenging role, but it also carries considerable prestige and other non-financial rewards. It seems likely that a competent project manager could have been found without requiring such extravagant executive pay awards.”
What did Tideway say about the CEO’s £2.5m pay?
A Tideway spokesperson said,
“The Thames Tideway tunnel is a world-class infrastructure project and one of the most complex in the UK. It has been delivered within the original timetable and within the cost range estimate for bill payers outlined before we started work, at around £25 a year. After nine years of construction and the work of around 25,000 people, it is now operational, protecting the River Thames from millions of tonnes of sewage pollution.”
They added,
“Tideway’s remuneration reflects the complexity of the engineering challenge and takes account of schedule, cost, health and safety and sustainability goals. The increase is largely due to the payment of a long-term retention incentive that has supported consistent leadership and the successful delivery of this vital infrastructure project.”
key facts about London’s super sewer
- Built to stop sewage spilling into the Thames and cut pollution by 95%
- 25 km long, 7.2 m wide (about 3 double-decker buses), up to 70 m deep
- £5 billion, paid by Thames Water users (around £25 extra per year)
- Started in 2017 and will be fully working by 2025 after 8 years
- Holds 1.6 million m³ of sewage (about 2,200 Olympic pools)
- Update Bazalgette’s 1860s system to meet today’s London needs