A major new development constructed on a brownfield site in Bedfordshire installed Protecta-Line barrier  pipe  from GPS at the heart of the utility infrastructure to ensure safe drinking water is delivered to residents.

The Wixams development is being constructed on a 750 acre brownfield site, which is being transformed into a new community consisting of four villages, which will be home to 4,500 families.

Anglian Water was responsible for installing the water mains distribution pipe network for the scheme and, with the site previously used as a munitions works, a detailed soil report was undertaken. When analysed by Anglian Water, the report revealed elevated levels of ground contamination.

Due to potential risks of water contamination, Anglian Water stipulated that barrier pipe must be installed for the water mains, and, due to previous difficulties with ductile iron in the construction of Phase One, Anglian Water turned to GPS PE Pipes for the next three villages.

More than 3km of a mix of larger diameter 450mm and 355mm Protecta-Line has been installed through the spine of the development, with smaller spurs of 225mm and 180mm coming off into the housing estates, before dropping down to 90mm as it goes into the cul-de-sacs to supply each individual property.

Currently all open field land, there was no space or logistic restrictions with the installation, which allowed the pipeline to be installed using an open cut installation and butt fusion jointing technique, which offered a quick and simple installation process.

Commenting on the scheme, Simon Pink, Project Engineer at Anglian Water, said: “We had some issues with the ductile iron that we used for the first village on this development, which caused us some delays and resulted in some necessary repair and replacement work and so we wanted a smoother installation for the second phase.

“We have used Protecta-Line successfully on other schemes, so we knew that it would provide a reliable and safe solution for Wixams. The pipe system was much easier to handle on site, compared with ductile iron, and offered us a much quicker and simpler installation process.”

To find out more about Protecta-Line please click here.