Projects

Woodcote Sewer Connection, Case Study

Location
Woodcote, South Oxfordshire
Client
Greenham Construction Ltd
Value
Circa £14k
Sewer Connections - Building-Site-Scene - JW Clark

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

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?

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