Over the past few months, Burdens has supplied Southern Water contracts at: Mossy Bottom, Newmarket and Southover with specialised Duktus ductile iron pipes in diameters of 800mm and 1m using the unique BLS® restraint joint system. The BLS® joint – which is arguably the most technically advanced of its kind – is fast becoming the product of choice for several reasons:
It eliminates the need for concrete thrust blocks or expensive couplings- It is fast and uncomplicated to install
- It is robust and cost-effective
- It requires no bolts or external clamps.
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The programme is part of Southern Water’s overall £1.7 billion improvement programme for 2010– 2015 which will ensure drinking water in the south-east remains among the best in Europe. Every day, Southern Water supplies 468 million litres of water to customers from 99 water supply works. It flows along more than 13,600km of mains to one million properties and nearly 2.3 million people.
The BLS® pipe was ordered by 4Delivery Ltd, a consortium comprising Veolia Water, Costain and MWH, which is carrying out a programme of environmental improvement and water quality schemes for Southern Water until 2015. Owing to the restricted access at Mossy Bottom, Burdens played an important role by taking all the pipes and fittings into stock and then delivering them in smaller quantities on smaller trucks. As a result, even though the pipes were large, heavy and hence cumbersome, everything was delivered on time without any hitches thanks to careful planning and their expertise in delivering large civil engineering products. At Newmarket, as the site was on the side of the A27 main road, the pipes could be delivered at night to avoid causing a traffic jam.
Steve Bond of Winsford-based civil engineering contractor Dragtone said “Our reputation is built on our professional approach to producing high-quality work, often in difficult locations and conditions. The BLS® system is well liked by our pipe layers due to its ease and speed of laying, and the security of the joint system particularly at high test pressures. The system is the quickest and simplest system on the market and we will always recommend it over all others.”
Altogether, the three contracts involved the installation of more than 360m of DN1000 pipes plus fittings. At both Mossy Bottom, near Shoreham, and Newmarket, near Lewes, the work involved the installation of 1m-diameter contact mains using both K9 and K10 Duktus BLS® systems. The looped contact main increases the treatment time before the potable water leaves the site and enters the supply. The scheme at Southover, near Lewes, was similar, involving a twin loop of 1m-diameter contact main to extend the existing 800mm contact main. With ground conditions here difficult, ground beam foundations were piled and the contact main was built above ground and tested to 18bar pressure before commissioning and installation beneath a bund.
Pipe manufacturer Duktus is based in Wetzlar, a town in central Hesse on the River Lahn in Germany. The company’s range of ductile iron pipe and fittings – all of which can be supplied by Burdens – is extensive and can meet most standard pipe requirements. In addition the BLS® system is widely used for directional drilling and trenchless applications due to the speed in assembling the joints and their strength when the pipe is jacked through the drilled hole. The Duktus range also features a unique cement coating which enables their pipes to not only be used in corrosive soil conditions, but can also be laid directly into the trench and backfilled with as-dug material up to a size of 100mm, saving on both additional cost and labour.
