Project Briefing

In the nick...of time

Scottish Prison Service

Locaton: Addiewell Prison, West Lothian

Technique: Miniburst

Main Contractor: Interserve

During commissioning, tests on the drainage system revealed that a 150mm line under one of the prison wings had collapsed. Perco was called in to investigate and offer a solution to fix the problem.

For Interserve and the consortium building and running the 700-place prison, this was an awkward problem because construction was complete and access was very difficult. Prison staff training was imminent, which meant that the remedial work would need to be completed quickly, before it could interfere with the training programme.

Located underneath a thick floor of reinforced concrete, the collapsed drain was not easily accessible by excavation. Our Divisional Manager, Mark Gowan, was able to suggest pipe bursting with the further option that if necessary, we could drive a timber heading under the building to reach the affected pipe.

Within a week of the call out, Perco engineers arrived to begin work with the Miniburst rig, launching and receiving from existing manholes at each side of the building. Though limited in size (150mm maximum diameter) the Miniburst system is versatile and bursts pipes in a wide range of materials. The system is quiet, discreet and most importantly, it is compact and portable, so that pipes can be replaced from within very confined areas.

After just four days Perco had burst the existing pipe and replaced it in MDPE, which was jacked into place in sections. The Addiewell project was judged to be a great success and the team was released on grounds of good behaviour.