Sewer Connections

Sewer connection, Golder’s Green, London

Projects

Sewer connection, Golder's Green, London, Case Study

We were approached by a private customer, who had been referred to us by another private customer, to undertake both a foul and surface water connection for an existing property.

Objective

Our objective was to make two new connections onto the public sewer, both foul and surface water and connect to an existing property. The connections were made in the centre of the road, and pipes laid back to the boundary with private property. We connected the new pipework into the existing sewerage system within private property which included us making some alterations to the existing system.

In addition, we lifted an existing paved area and re-laid all the slabs.

About the project

Our customer already had a connection into a neighbouring property, but required two connections to be made into the public sewers in the Highway instead. This included both the foul and surface water sewers. The surface water sewer was in the centre of the road, at a couple of metres deep. The foul was closer to the pavement, but was in excess of 3m deep.

We facilitated to Section 106 to Thames Water, which included us putting together a basic drainage drawing, which detailed where the pipework was within the property, and also how we planned to connect to the two sewers and by which method. For the surface water we were able to fit a saddle connection and for the foul we had to fit a junction insertion.

If you need a sewer connection doing, please contact us as early as possible, there are many reasons why the lead-time for a sewer connection can be up to a year or more. For more information click here.

Our Section 50 application to Highways included some legal suspensions of parking spaces, in order that we could clear cars in advance of the work taking place. With the site set up on day one, we brought our own 3.7 tonne mini digger to site, complete with breaker.

As is the condition with a Section 50 Licence, we were obliged to source all drawings for utilities that might be present within the area to be excavated. We also sprayed up where we expected services to be, having done a CAT scan of the area.

We sawcut and broke out for the pit in the road, where we would make the two connections.

We were lucky to have very few services in the road and located both the foul and surface water sewers on day one. Over the next couple of days we carefully excavated around both sewers, breaking concrete away from the surface water sewer, as is of the case.

We sheeted the excavation as we went, using trench sheets, acrows and timbers.

We made the connections onto both sewers and these were inspected and passed by the Thames Water Inspector. We then proceeded to excavate further and to lay pipes towards the pavement.

In the pavement we encountered a lot more services, including a cast iron pipe which we think was a water main, also a couple of electric cables, BT ducts, a small BT cable which we were lucky to avoid, and also some fairly shallow Cable TV ducts. We had to hand dig around all of these services, after which we continued to lay pipework, for foul and surface water, into private property.

In private property we had to remove and reinstall the demarcation manhole for the foul, which included turning it to face the new direction out towards the Highway. From this new demarcation manhole we laid plastic 110mm pipework to connect up to the clay pipework we’d laid up to the boundary.

For the surface water we had to lay new 110mm plastic pipework from the downpipes on the house, to a new demarcation chamber that we installed, and from here will laid pipework up to that which we’d laid to the boundary in clay.

As part of the quote to our customer, we had included to lift and relay about 20 paving slabs which were uneven, creating a trip hazard. We re-laid these on a wet sand/cement bed, and pointed up around the two demarcation manholes.

With the excavations backfilled and compacted in the Highway, we reinstated with tarmac, and in the pavement we re-laid the large slabs that were there previously. The job took us 8 days from start to finish, including the work in private property. We finished by jet washing in private property and in the Highway, removing all signage and barriers from site, and taking our plant and machinery home for a well-earned rest!

Timeline

Time to quote for the works: Less than a week

Time taken to obtain Section 106 Licence from TW: 2 weeks

Time taken to obtain Section 50 Licence from Highways: 4 weeks – included talks between us and Highways regards traffic management, suspended parking bays, and we also had a site meeting with the representative from Highways

Leadtime to use S50 Licence: 6 weeks

Time taken to do the work: 8 days

Total time: 15 weeks

Do you need a sewer connection needs doing? Click here to enquire.

Don’t leave it too late for a sewer connection, most people do! Read our article here: How long does it take to do a sewer connection?

Click here to see more of our case studies.

Sewer connection, Waddesdon

Projects

Sewer connection, Waddesdon, case study

We were approached by Fitzgerald Building Services to connect one new property to the public sewer, on the main road running through the picturesque town of Waddesdon in Buckinghamshire.

Objective

Our objective was to make a new connection onto the public sewer in the main road running through the town. And then to lay pipework back to the boundary where our customer had terminated his pipework and built a demarcation manhole.

About the project

On this occasion our customer already had the Section 106 approval from Thames Water which was really handy, and enabled us to go straight to Highways and apply for the Section 50 application, which we always take care of on behalf of our customer. (You cannot apply for a Section 50 before you have the Section 106)

This required us filling out the Section 50 Application Forms, supplying our accreditations, insurance documents, a traffic management plan, utilities drawings for all other services (Highways have a duty of care to ensure we know where all other utilities are before we start excavating) and various other documents. For the traffic management, we opted for 2-way traffic lights, as this was quite a busy main road.

Our S50 application was rejected initially, as the road was a HS2 diversion route at the time, and traffic lights and road closures are prohibited on HS2 diversion routes. This created a huge problem for our customer as the house was pretty much finished, and waiting for HS2 to complete in the area would have meant a delay of over a year, before he could finish the project and sell the property.

If you need a sewer connection doing, please contact us as early as possible, there are many reasons why the lead-time for a sewer connection can be up to a year or more. For more information click here.

We appealed to Highways and they eventually agreed on ‘give & take’ traffic management for this job, if we were able to keep our excavation far enough over, that we could leave 7m of road remaining outside of the works, for two lanes of traffic to be maintained. We took measurements on site, and this was indeed possible.

The Section 106 approval letter from Thames water detailed connection to the public sewer by way of Junction Insertion, which is the most common method of connection for a single house. This is simply putting a Y-Junction onto the sewer – but of course it’s not that simple with it being a live sewer! It requires us to stop the flow upstream in order that our exaction is not flooded with sewerage whilst the connection is being made. We had all manner of other utilities in our excavation where the connection was made, which is usual, including a gas main and a water main.

We knew where these were in advance as we had the utilities drawings for existing utilities, but there are always services in the Highway that are not on any drawings!

The pipework was laid from the connection point and back to the site. The majority of the pipework, for about 8 metres, was in a wide parking layby. With the connection having been made at approximately 1.4m deep, it made the pipework back to the site a bit over a metre throughout, and of course becoming shallower as we worked back to the site. The carriageway and the layby had to be backfilled and made safe before we could extend our excavation into the footpath – the road was too busy for us to ask pedestrians to cross the road and use the other footpath. In advance of reinstating the carriageway and the layby, we used a ‘footpath board’ to enable pedestrians to cross our back-filled excavation in the layby, whilst we excavated in the footpath.

As usual, we found plenty of smaller utilities in the footpath, including electric cables, BT cables and ducts, and a water service pipe, all of which we had to hand-dig underneath.

The pipework was laid up to the boundary with the private property. A demarcation manhole is always required within 1 metre of the boundary with the Highway, but this was not within our remit, and the customer had already fitted this, and left a plastic 110mm spur from the demarcation manhole to the boundary, onto which we connected our clay pipework. With all pipework complete and tested, we prepared for tarmac reinstatement. We collected base course tarmac and 10mm tarmac ourselves on our own 4-wheel grab lorry and the reinstatement was completed just over a week after we started on site.

Timeline

Time to quote for the works: Less than a week

Time taken to obtain Section 106 Licence from AW: (Our customer already had this)

Time taken to obtain Section 50 Licence from Highways: 5 weeks – included talks between us and Highways regards traffic management

Leadtime to use S50 Licence: 5 weeks

Time taken to do the work: Just over a week

Total time: 12 weeks

Do you need a sewer connection needs doing? Click here to enquire.

Don’t leave it too late for a sewer connection, most people do! Read our article here: How long does it take to do a sewer connection?

Click here to see more of our case studies.

Sewer connection and associated utilities works, Creaton

Projects

Sewer connection and associated utilities works, Creaton, case study

We were approached by David, a friend of his recommended he contact us regarding his project whereby he required a sewer connection and various other utilities laying from his barn conversion, all the way down to the Highway, 250 metres away.

Objective

Our objective was to connect to the sewer in the Highway and lay pipework to the boundary with the property. And then to lay drainage including pipework & manholes, from the boundary with the Highway, all the way to the location of the barn conversion, over 200 metres away. We also laid other services in the same trench.

About the project

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As is usual, we took care of both the Section 106 to Anglian Water, and also the Section 50 to Highways. Our customer already had drawings for the proposed drainage in the site, but we asked for amendments to be made to include the work in the Highway. These included for the pipework to be laid across the road to the connection point in the footpath. A ‘drainage drawing’ submitted to the Water Authority for a Section 106 has to include the pipework, detailing the pipe material & size, it has to detail the size of the existing sewer we are to connect onto, and the method of connection. In this case the method of connection was ‘Junction Insertion’.

With the drainage drawing amended, we facilitated the Section 106 application to Anglian Water. This was passed within a couple of weeks, and with the Section 106 Approval Letter in hand we made the application to Highways for the Section 50 – you cannot legally apply for a Section 50 to ‘dig up the road’ before you have the Section 106 from the water authority. Highways have a duty of care to ensure we have permission to connect onto the target apparatus, in this case the public sewer. As part of our Section 50 application to Highways, we nominated ‘give and take’ traffic management, as the road was a quiet ‘dead-end’ road without much traffic. The Section 50 was approved within 3 weeks, as is usual for a simple S50 application – but beware, the application can often take much, much longer. Click here to find out more.

We had to give 3 weeks’ notice to Highways that we wished to use our Section 50 Licence. We started on the ‘other’ side of the road to the site, in the footpath, where we believed the public sewer to be. We found the pipe at 1.6m deep, and under various other services. We made the connection onto the public sewer on day 1, and this was inspected and passed by Anglian Water on day 2. With the connection made and approved, we worked our way across the road, laying 100mm clay pipes in the direction of the site. We completed the work in the road in two halves, reinstating the first half with tarmac before continuing with the second half. The work in the Highway was complete in 6 days, including all reinstatement.

We arranged with our customer to carry out the works in private property straight after the work in the Highway. The work in private property included laying 110mm plastic pipework for the foul drainage, and various manholes along the way, and also other services relating to the barn conversion. These included 125mm electric duct, 90mm BT duct, 32mm water pipe and also a spare 63mm electric duct for future use, i.e. electric gates or similar.

We dug various trial holes and CAT-scanned the site for electric, and luckily found there to be no services in the first half of the route. There was some electric in the second half nearest the barn conversion, we marked these and also dug exploratory holes to ascertain depth of cables etc.

The electric ducts were supplied by National Grid, as is usual, and we collected them from their local depot. We dug our trench about 1.2m deep. The foul and the water pipe were laid towards the bottom, the foul in gravel surround and the water in sand surround, with warning tape to cover. The two electric ducts were laid above and also the BT, and laid in sand surround and with more warning tape to finish.

The services were all laid to one side of the farm track leading to the barn conversion, but we had two tarmac roads to cross further up, which we reinstated with tarmac afterwards. We pulled draw cords through the ducts to enable cables to be pulled through later. With the total distance of pipework being in excess of 200 metres, and with four separate rolls of 32mm water pipe being laid and joined together, we decided to fusion-weld the water pipes together so we could be sure that the joints were 100% watertight under pressure later on when the connection was done in the Highway by Anglian Water. The most common way to join water pipes together is by way of ‘compression joints’, but it is harder to know for sure that the connections are good, in advance of the pipes being live, and we wanted to have confidence that we could backfill in advance of this.

All trenches were compacted in layers and reinstated, whether it be with grass or topsoil, or tarmac where we crossed roads further up. The ground at the top was particularly wet, and some of the foul pipe runs were in excess of 1.8m deep here. We found various land drains running through our trenches at this point as well, which made our job harder, with water pouring into our trenches as we were excavating and laying various pipes and ducts. With all of the trenchwork complete, we went back to the bottom of the track and tidied the site from start to finish, scraping the farm track as we went, and hosing and sweeping where required

Timeline

Time taken to quote for the works: Less than 1 week

Time taken to obtain Section 106 Licence from AW: 2 weeks

Time taken to obtain Section 50 Licence from Highways: 3 weeks

Leadtime to use S50 Licence: 3 weeks

Time taken to do the work: 3 weeks

Total time: 12 weeks

Do you need a sewer connection needs doing? Click here to enquire.

Don’t leave it too late for a sewer connection, most people do! Read our article here: How long does it take to do a sewer connection?

Click here to see more of our case studies.

Sewer Connection, Stockport

Projects

Sewer Connection Stockport, Case Study

We were approached by long-time customer of ours Fox Construction of Chapenhall in Scotland. Fox undertake full refurbishments and new construction of Shell Petrol stations throughout the UK. Their job in Turncroft Lane, Stockport required us to make both a surface water and foul connection to the public sewer.

Objective

Our objective was to lay surface water pipework from the site boundary of a new Shell Petrol Station in Stockport, and to connect into an existing surface water manhole in the carriageway. And then to do the same for the foul, connection into a manhole again. The surface water was 2m deep, however the foul connection was a bit more challenging, the connection into the existing foul manhole was to be made at 4.3m dig depth. The presence of a Medium Pressure Gas Man within our excavation had to be factored in as to how the works would be carried out.

About the project

Despite these works being quite challenging in many different ways, traffic management was quite simple on this one. The two connections to the sewer were made at the back of the site, onto a quieter road, and we were therefore able to use ‘give & take’ traffic management.

However, the road was riddled with services including multiple high voltage electric ducts, large water mains, two gas mains (one of them Medium Pressure) and also two very large decommissioned steel mains, likely to have been gas & water. We also had to contend with lower voltage electric cables & BT ducts.

The surface water connection was done first, this required us to excavate in the pavement and a metre into the carriageway, where connection was made into an existing surface water manhole. The depth of this connection was 2 metres. The excavation was sheeted and a third party core-driller was brought in to core-drill the manhole. The pipework was installed, the excavation backfilled, and the manhole was ‘made good’ inside.

The foul connection required excavation in the footpath also, and then 4 linear metres into the carriageway in the direction of the existing foul manhole. This manhole was 4.3m deep, and United Utilities (owner of the apparatus) required a soffit-to-soffit connection, as is usual for foul connections in particular. The excavation in the carriageway was extensive and required a large pit excavating 4m wide and across half of the carriageway. Within this excavation was an existing Medium Pressure Gas Main, amongst many other services. The presence of the MP Gas Main required us to consult with the owner of the apparatus, Cadent. We put proposals to Cadent which excluded use of the excavator within 1 metre of the Gas Main. Adjacent to the MP main, we had to hand dig, and then the bulk of the excavating was done with a Vacuum Excavator (Vac-Ex), which is basically a big vacuum the size of a very large lorry, see pictures below.

As the MP Gas Main would be passing through our excavation, and the supporting ground dug out from underneath it, the gas main would need to be supported from above. We put proposals to Cadent which included a 5m long steel beam, 150mm x 100mm, placed directly above the gas main. From the steel beam, we strapped the gas main at 500mm centres. Cadent approved all of our proposals and visited site to inspect our method of working, which was all satisfactory to them.

The excavation at its deepest was 4.3m, which had to be excavated with the Vac-Ex in stages, with us inserting trench sheets, heavy timbers, and acrows as the excavation got deeper. Ordinarily a ‘trench box’ would be lowered into the ground, but with all the services we had to contend with, the excavation had to be sheeted out around and underneath the services. The deepest part of the excavation was directly under the gas main.

With all of the trench sheeting complete, a third party core-driller was brought in and the manhole core-drilled. The pipework was installed for the foul from the site to the manhole. The manhole was very small inside, for its depth, such as they used to be, this is likely a Victorian-era manhole. As with any manhole entry though, an operative has to be lowered down on a winch, with gas tests done prior and during entry into the manhole. Should anything happen to the operative whilst down the manhole, he would be winched out as opposed to somebody going down there to rescue him. All of our operatives have confined-space training for this reason, which has to be updated and renewed regularly. We cannot undertake new sewer connections without these accreditations, and of course it’s what is needed to keep everybody safe.

The deep excavation was filled with primary aggregate, with all excavated material having been removed from site. The excavations for both the surface water and foul sewer connection were reinstated at the same time, and the site cleared of all signage and plant & machinery etc.

This was a challenging sewer connection due to the depth of the foul in particular, and also as a result of the Medium Pressure Gas Main, exactly where we didn’t want it. But as always there is a safe method of carrying out these types of works, no matter what the depth and the difficulties involved.

It was a pleasure to have carried out this work for Fox Construction and JW Clark continue to work with Fox Construction on sites across the UK.

Timeline

Time taken to quote for the works: Less than 1 week

Time taken to obtain Section 106 Licence: 4 weeks

Time taken to obtain Section 50 Licence: 10 weeks

Leadtime to use S50 Licence: 3 weeks

Time taken to do the work: 2 weeks

Total time: 20 weeks from enquiry by Fox, to the work being completed

Do you need a sewer connection needs doing? Don’t leave it too late, most people do! Read our article here: How long does it take to do a sewer connection?

Stafford Sewer Connections

Projects

Stafford Sewer Connections, Case Study

We were approached by Pritpal of Dulkoo Properties, in Stafford, he had built a new house and needed a connection to the sewer, for both foul and surface water.

Objective

Our objective was to make a connection to the surface water connection in the Highway, at 1.5m deep and lay pipework back to the site boundary. The foul connection was a bit trickier at 3.5m deep, and from here we also laid pipework back to the site boundary.

About the project

We met with Stafford Highways to discuss traffic management for the job, and despite the works being on a 3-way junction, we agreed on 2-way traffic lights, but with signage on the side road indicating that traffic on the main road was under signal control. We located the surface water pipe on day 1, on the opposite side of the road to the site. The existing pipe was less than 1.5m deep, and the connection was made using ‘junction insertion’ method. The connection was inspected and passed by Severn Trent Water, and then from the connection point we laid pipework back to the site boundary. The STW Inspector requested that the pipework be concrete-protected, due to how shallow it was in the carriageway. With the surface water pipe laid and the excavation backfilled, we reinstated the Highway to Stafford Highways’ spec. As a Class 1 road, this required in excess of 300mm of tarmac to be laid, in three layers.

The new road surface was allowed to cool overnight, and the traffic lights were switched over in the morning, and excavation was started in preparation for the foul connection. At an invert depth of over 3.5m, we expected to find the top of the 450mm foul sewer at a depth of approx. 3 metres. Due to the depth of the excavation, an extensive amount of trench sheeting and acrow props were required to enable safe entry into the excavation for our operatives. Having excavated down to 2.5m however, and having made the excavation safe, we started to encounter groundwater coming into the sides of the excavation deep down, which were unable to control with pumps. The ground was ‘silty’ and the volume of water made it impossible for us to continue. With the water content we had to deal with and the nature of the ground combined, it is not possible to use pumps to remove the water. We consulted Dewatering Services Ltd whom we have used on a number of occasions, and made plans for them to come to site to ‘dewater’ the ground. Unfortunately they were unable to come there and then, and due to the traffic-sensitive nature of the road, Highways required us to abandon the excavation, reinstate the road and remove the traffic management, which we did.

Just over a week later, we set up the traffic lights all over again….! And Dewatering Services Ltd came to site. In preparation for their arrival, we had re-dug down to a depth of just over two metres, and reinstalled the trench-sheeting system. The Dewatering system included metal rods being pushed 5m into the ground, the whole system was installed in a day. 24 hours later and the excavation had been dried out, we excavated down another metre or so to get to our target depth of 3m, and installed more trench sheets and supports further down. We located the top of the 450mm concrete sewer at 3.15m down from the road level. The concrete sewer was encased in more concrete, which needed to be broken off carefully with a handheld breaker, to gain clear access to the pipe for core-drilling. We instructed a professional core-driller to core-drill into the concrete pipe. With the hole having been cored, we fixed a clay saddle onto the 450mm sewer and secured the saddle and the first clay pipe, with extra-strong and quick-setting mortar. From the connection point we continued to lay 100mm clay pipes towards the boundary. This included excavating under numerous existing services both in the carriageway and in the pavement and cycleway.

The dewatering equipment was removed from site as soon as we came up to 1.5m dig depth, near to the site. The excavation was backfilled and the carriageway, pavement and cycleway all permanently reinstated.

The project was a reasonably challenging one, due to the dig depth and the water content within the ground. But it is not unusual to encounter groundwater such as this, especially at this depth, and we have plenty of expertise in this area, and often at much deeper depths as well. It was a pleasure to have carried out this work for Pritpal, and we wish him every success with this project and any others we are able to help with going forward.

Timeline

Time taken to quote for the works: 1 week

Time taken to obtain Section 106 Licence: Our customer already had this

Time taken to obtain Section 50 Licence: The licence only took a few weeks to obtain….

Leadtime to use S50 Licence: …….but we had to wait in excess of 3 months before the work could be started, due to other works being undertaken in the area, a road closure around the corner. Highways will not often permit two jobs to run concurrently within a certain radius, and we are never able to carry out works in what is a ‘diversion route’ for another road closure.

Time taken to do the work: 3.5 weeks including us having to go away for a week and then come back with Dewatering Services

Total time: 4.5 months including the delay in being able to use our Section 50 licence, due to other roadworks being carried out in the vicinity.

Do you need a sewer connection needs doing? Don’t leave it too late, most people do! Read our article here: How long does it take to do a sewer connection?

Woodcote Sewer Connection

Projects

Woodcote Sewer Connection, Case Study

Objective

We were delighted to be approached by Greenham Construction from Newbury, a first-time customer. They were building a high-end property in Woodcote, South Oxfordshire, and needed the property connecting to the public sewer.

About the project

The property being built was a long way from the Highway, and the levels didn’t work with getting into the public sewer by gravity. Therefore a pump system was installed within the site, an MDPE pipe was laid in the track leading to the site, and a ‘break chamber’ installed a few metres from the boundary with the Highway. This was all done by the customer, with us instructed to do the gravity work in the Highway.

The customer already had the Section 106 approval, which detailed connection onto the public sewer by way of new manhole construction. We put a quote together for our customer based on information provided to us, the Thames Water Asset Drawing, and also what we were able to see on Google Earth and Google Street View.

The customer was happy with our quote in principal, so we did a site visit whereby we lifted manholes to check pipe depths etc. The road was fairly narrow for the work that was required and we were concerned that a road closure would be required, which would have added a few thousand pounds to the cost. Ordinarily we need to leave 3.5m carriageway width outside of our works, but we were only able to leave 3m. However Oxfordshire Highways were happy with 3m available carriageway, so the works were able to proceed using ‘give & take’ traffic management, which is normally the cheapest method.

We started on site two months after our initial contact with the customer. Upon locating the existing sewer we found the pipe material to be asbestos, which are still quite common. Our operatives are asbestos-trained for this reason, and we took all necessary precautions to ensure that the existing pipe in the road was cut safely and as per H&S regulations relating to asbestos.We constructed the new manhole on top of the existing sewer using concrete 1.2m diameter sections, finished with a ‘biscuit’ and a 150mm D400 manhole cover.

We then excavated for and laid the pipework from the new manhole, to the boundary with the customer’s property. The pipework we laid was a bit under 2m deep, and consisted of a few metres in the carriageway and the remainder in the tarmac footpath. As this was a quiet road, we closed the footpath and diverted pedestrians onto the other side of the road whilst the works were carried out. With the pipes laid, trenches backfilled and reinstated, the Highway was reopened and the site cleared 6 days after we started.

It was a pleasure to carry out these works for Greenham Construction and we look forward to working with them again in the future.

Timeline

Time taken to quote for the works: 1 week

Time taken to obtain Section 106 Licence: (Customer already had this)

Time taken to obtain Section 50 Licence: 3 weeks

Leadtime to use Licence: 4 weeks

Time taken to do the work: 1 week

Total time: 9 weeks

Do you need a sewer connection needs doing? Don’t leave it too late, most people do! Read our article here: How long does it take to do a sewer connection?

Sewer connection, Leicester

Projects

Sewer connection, Leicester, Case Study

Objective

We were approached by Nisha from Neisa Investments for both foul & surface water connections for a small block of flats in Leicester City Centre. As per Severn Trent’s guidelines for sewer connections for new properties, the fact that there were more than 2 units, made it that new manhole construction was required in the Highway for connection to both the foul and the storm water.

About the project

Due to the road needing to be closed for this project there was a mandatory 3-month legal lead-time between us being granted our Section 50 Licence by Highways, and us being able to use the licence. A week before the work was to start, we did a letter-drop to the surrounding properties, which is always a condition of a Section 50 licence. We also had to put Advance Warning Signs up on lamposts a week before the closure was to start.

The two manholes we were to construct in the Highway for the foul and surface water were to be 3m deep and 2m deep respectively. The two existing sewers were in block paving, so we spent the first day lifting hundreds of block paviors and putting them to one side for future reinstatement. We tackled the foul connection first, constructing a manhole on top of the foul sewer just over 3 metres deep. This required the excavation being sheeted out with trench sheets, timbers and acrows etc. The manhole was constructed using standard 1200mm concrete rings with steps for future access. The manhole was finished with a D400 manhole cover as is standard on adoptable manholes in the Highway. We constructed the surface water manhole next, though this one was a bit shallower at 2 metres.

With the manholes constructed and inspected on a site visit by Severn Trent, we calculated the gradients required to lay the pipework from these two new manholes, to the two demarcation manholes built by the customer’s groundworkers just inside the site boundary.

The pipework in the carriageway was in block paving the same as the two manholes, with the path being paving slabs. With all pipework laid and tested, the deep trenches were backfilled with gravel and Type 1 MOT compacted in many layers.

The block paving and slabs were reinstated and the site cleared exactly two week after we started.

It was great to carry out this relatively major sewer connection in the heart of Leicester City Centre, and for a really friendly customer as well..

Timeline

Time taken to quote for the works: 1 week

Time taken to obtain Section 106 Licence: 5 weeks

Time taken to obtain Section 50 Licence: 3 weeks

Leadtime to use Licence: 3 months legal lead-time due to road closure

Time taken to do the work: 2 weeks

Total time: 6 months

Do you need a sewer connection needs doing? Don’t leave it too late, most people do! Read our article here: How long does it take to do a sewer connection?

Sewer Connection Macclesfield

Projects

Sewer Connection Macclesfield

We were approached by long-time customer of ours Fox Construction of Chapenhall in Scotland. Fox undertake full refurbishments and new construction of Shell Petrol stations throughout the UK. Their job in Macclesfield required us to make a surface water connection to the public sewer.

Objective

Our objective was to lay pipework from the site boundary of a new Shell Petrol Station, and to connect into an existing surface water manhole 80 metres away in the carriageway. The gradients in the Highway didn’t work with the site, and so a pump was installed within the site by Fox, and we took care of all the work in the Highway.

About the project

Fox Construction took care of the Section 106, on this occasion, the wastewater provider being United Utilities. JW Clark applied to Cheshire Highways for the Section 50 Licence, including submission of utilities drawings, our accreditations and insurances, drainage plans supplied by Fox and a traffic management plan which we instructed a third party to put together.

We met with Highways and agreed a 3-day road closure of a narrow country lane at the back of the site, from where we would lay the MDPE pumped main. The work in the lane was completed in 3 days including full tarmac reinstatement. For the purposes of closing the road, we had to complete a TTRO road-closure application, which included us submitting a diversion plan to Highways and then instructing a third party to set up the road closure and also the diversion including full signage around the site and also along the diversion route.

Following on from this, we laid 40 metres of MDPE pipework in a grass verge and tarmac footpath. At this point we built a 2m deep ‘break chamber’ where the pipework would change from an MDPE pumped main, to 100mm clay pipework (on gravity)

The clay pipework was laid to an existing manhole in the carriageway, nearly 4m deep. Due to the location of the existing manhole, it was proving challenging to retain access to people’s driveways as the excavation would be in the region of 3m square, for us to work safely at 4m dig depth. We also found the ground to be very unstable, with running sand at 3m deep. With this in mind we approached United Utilities who had granted the Section 106, and proposed an internal backdrop, with the aforementioned engineering challenges in mind. United Utilities were in agreement and we submitted our proposals including full design and materials to be used etc. The internal backdrop was installed using 150mm ductile iron, built into the benching of the inside of the manhole at the bottom.

With the connection complete, the pump chamber was commissioned by Fox Construction and rising main in the Highway tested under pressure. With tests complete and with all reinstatement complete, the site was cleared less than 10 working days after starting on site.

JW Clark continue to work with Fox Construction on sites across the UK.

Timeline

Time taken to quote for the works: Less than 1 week

Time taken to obtain Section 106 Licence: Fox Construction already had this

Time taken to obtain Section 50 Licence: 6 weeks

Leadtime to use S50 Licence: Highways required only one week

Time taken to do the work: 2 weeks

Total time: 10 weeks from enquiry by Fox, to the work being completed

Do you need a sewer connection needs doing? Don’t leave it too late, most people do! Read our article here: How long does it take to do a sewer connection?

Sewer Connection, Ketton

Projects

Ketton case study

Kevin Miller was a first-time customer of ours, who contacted us following a Google Search, for a sewer connection he needed doing.

Objective

Kevin owns an outbuilding in the picturesque village of Ketton, in Rutland. He wanted a connection doing to the public sewer for facilities within his outbuilding. The nearest public sewer was over 60 metres from the public sewer in a combination of unmade ground, tarmac road and grass verge.

Our Solution

We acted as agent for Kevin in applying for the Section 106 to Anglian Water (AW), as we do for the majority of our clients. Although we normally tend to ask out customers to supply us with a drainage drawing for the application, the nature of the project meant that an architect would not ordinarily have been instructed for any reason. So we put together a basic drawing ourselves, which AW accepted. The application was approved within 10 working days, and was for foul only, with the surface water being discharged separately into the existing land, as is AW’s strongest preference.

With the Section 106 ‘Approval Letter’ to hand, we approached Rutland Highways with a view to making a Section 50 application. We supplied all utilities drawings, a traffic management plan and our accreditations and insurances etc. We have been dealing with Rutland Highways for many years, and the application was turned around in less than 3 weeks.

We started on site a month later, so the whole process from first contact with our customer, quoting for the works, doing the S106 and S50 applications, and starting on site, was completed within an 8-week, which is very quick for a sewer connection.

We started in private property and laid plastic pipes and manhole chambers from the building to the boundary with the Highway. At the boundary we built a demarcation manhole 1.6m deep with a D400 manhole cover to finish, as it would be continually driven over thereafter. From there laid 100mm clay pipes through a grass verge, across a quiet road, and back into another grass verge. The connection was made onto a 150mm existing clay sewer, at approximately 2m deep. AW inspected the connection and signed off with an approval, which we downloaded and gave to our customer for his future reference. All surfaces in the Highway were reinstated as found and the site closed down.

Whilst we were on site we also scraped off the vehicular access track to the property, we laid geotextile membrane and then we laid and compacted Type 1 MOT granite.

Customer review

Kevin was extremely complimentary of our work and of the people working for us on site, and was kind enough to leave the following 5-star review for us on Google:

JW Clark Ltd: 5 Star Groundworks Experience (Lifesavers Included!)

I can’t recommend JW Clark Ltd highly enough! I recently needed some groundworks done to connect a new toilet to my stables. They dug a 60m trench, 30m of which ran through my driveway.

The owner was fantastic. He provided a clear quote that he stuck to, and even offered two helpful suggestions: replacing an ageing water line and finishing the driveway with crushed rock. Both suggestions made perfect sense and added significant value to the project.

The crew themselves were top-notch. They received a perfect 5 out of 5 from me for their quality work. They were friendly, hard-working, and kept me informed throughout the project. They even consulted me on details like the driveway’s turning circle and topsoil placement. Additionally, they came up with a clever way to simplify the drain connection, showcasing excellent communication skills.

JW Clark Ltd left the worksite spotless, exactly as promised. The owner was always responsive to my questions, addressing billing, licences, and access agreements clearly. They’re an honest, reliable, and meticulous company – everything you’d want in a groundworks team. They even kept me in the loop with the project’s progress by sending a series of pictures, as promised.

Here’s where things went above and beyond! Halfway through the project, I had a sofa scheduled for delivery. The long, muddy driveway, blocked by trucks and trenches, made the delivery crew hesitant. Seeing my predicament, the JW Clark Ltd crew offered a helping hand. They used their skid steer loader to carefully transport the sofa from the delivery van all the way to my house!

If you’re looking for top-quality work at a fair price, with a team that goes the extra mile (literally!), look no further than JW Clark Ltd!

It was a pleasure to have carried out this work for Kevin, at JW Clark we speclialise in sewer connections for both commercial and domestic customers, and for existing and new dwellings. For a quote for a new sewer connection click here

Do you need a sewer connection needs doing? Don’t leave it too late, most people do! Read our article here: How long does it take to do a sewer connection?

Sewer Connection, Sywell

Sywell Northants Sewer Connection JW Clark

Projects

Sywell case study

Having done many such projects for Tom at Fountain Construction, we were pleased to be asked to quote for another connection to the public sewer for one property in Sywell, Northants.

Objective

Having done many such projects for Tom at Fountain Construction, we were pleased to be asked to quote for another connection to the public sewer for one property in Sywell, Northants. Tom and his team had laid all the pipework in private property up to the boundary and we were asked to lay all the pipework in the Highway and to make connection onto the public sewer. As part of our package we also priced for facilitating the Section 106 application to Anglian Water and also the Section 50 application to Northants Highways. Tom already had the AW asset drawing which had been downloaded from Digdat, and this showed the public sewer to be a bit less than 2m deep.

Our Solution

The Section 106 was to include for some surface water to discharge into the sewer. Tom supplied us with drainage drawings which detailed attenuation within the site, after which a significantly reduced-flow of surface water would be allowed to discharged into the public sewer – soakaways were not a suitable means of discharging of rainwater, due to the heavy-clay nature of the ground.

The Section 106 was passed within 10 days on this basis, and we then proceeded to apply for the Section 50 to Northants Highways. The road would have been suitable for ‘give and take’ traffic management, however the work was just past the brow of a hill, and traffic in each direction did not have very clear line of sight, of oncoming traffic. So it was decided to apply for 2-way lights for this reason. Our application to Highways was approved just under three weeks after submission to them.

About the Project

We located the existing 150mm sewer at 1.9m deep in the road. The excavation was made safe throughout with trench sheets and the connection made by junction insertion. We then excavated for and laid the pipework all the way to the kerbline, and reinstated the carriageway. With the carriageway resurfaced, we diverted pedestrians onto the carriageway into a purposely set-up pedestrian walkway, after which we continued to excavate in the grass verge and footpath. We laid the pipework to the site boundary, and reinstated the verge and footpath.

Timeline

Time taken to quote for the works: 1 week

Time taken to obtain Section 106 Licence: 2 weeks

Time taken to obtain Section 50 Licence: 3 weeks

Leadtime to use S50 Licence: 3 weeks

Time taken to do the work: 4 days

Total time: 10 weeks

Do you need a sewer connection needs doing? Don’t leave it too late, most people do! Read our article here: How long does it take to do a sewer connection?

It was a pleasure to work with Tom again and we look forward to our next project with him.

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