Posted by on 22 January 2010 | 0 Comments

Northumbrian Water has invested £3.7 million into an innovative water management solution that will reduce the risk of flooding in Preston Village, North Shields.

The 30-week flood alleviation project has opted to use Weholite, the high density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe manufactured by leading water management solutions provider Asset International Ltd.

Around 200 homes are set to benefit from the project, of which 64 have previously been flooded during periods of very heavy rainfall. Work is due to be completed mid-December this year.

Two kilometres of Weholite pipeline will be positioned directly under the rugby pitch at North Shields Rugby Club, with one 1.8 metre diameter pipeline acting as the primary entry point for the water. The pipe will then release the storm waste-water into 15 adjacent 1.5 metre diameter pipelines that will form storage tanks. The storm waste-water will then be slowly released back into the sewerage system and treated before being returned to the environment.

Design consultants Mott Macdonald Ltd specified the use of Weholite for this scheme.

Contractors Lumsden & Carroll Construction Ltd. will be laying the pipes for Northumbrian Water. Site manager, Ralph Dunn, said: “The Weholite pipes are lightweight and therefore easy to manoeuvre, because of this we have kept disturbance to a minimum which is important in residential areas.

“As the pipe could be easily offloaded from the lorry and placed directly into the trench, we removed a number of health and safety issues and saved a considerable amount of time.”

Weholite has been proven to have a lower carbon footprint than other traditional pipe materials due to a number of factors, including its UK manufacture and its lightness which results in reduced transport costs and much less requirement for heavy-lifting machinery on site for installation.

Project manager at Northumbrian Water, Graeme Ridley, said: “Reducing the risk of flooding is one of our top priorities and it is vital that the solutions we choose are effective and efficient.  Weholite has been tried and tested on some of our previous flood alleviation projects and has proved to be extremely effective. Due to the lightness of the product it is easy for us to install and construct which save us a great amount of time.”

Managing director at Asset International, Simon Thomas, said:  “We have worked closely with Northumbrian Water to successfully complete three flood alleviation projects over the last two years.

“The Preston Village project is a great demonstration of the versatility of our Weholite product and how it can be adapted to provide bespoke solutions for flood alleviation.”