Sewer connection, Leicester

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..