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Largest liner’ expands options for UK sewer maintenance

National drainage and wastewater maintenance specialist Lanes Group plc has installed itslargest ever ultraviolet liner – and Largest liner’ expands options for UK sewer maintenanceone that could be the largest to have been installed in the UK.

The UV cured in place pipe (CIPP) liner was 1800mm in diameter, tall enough for a man of average height to walk along without having to stoop.

It is first 1800mm UV liner installed by Lanes, and the first to be supplied in the UK by its German manufacturer, IMPREG.

In a significant development, Lanes selected a new type of liner that can be more easily controlled in hot weather, which gave its lining team greater flexibility in carrying out the installation.

Lanes installed the 42-metre-long liner to strengthen a storm drain in Corby, Northamptonshire, before it was adopted into the public sewer system.

Sue Kenyon, Lanes Reline Division Manager, said: “The technical challenges created by the size of the liner make this one of the most complex lining projects we’ve ever undertaken.

“It shows we can deliver cutting edge, no-dig technologies, at the biggest possible scale, giving clients a highly sustainable, cost effective and much safer method for rehabilitating culverts, sewers and industrial pipes.”

IMPREG UK Technical Manager Jack Talbott said: “This is the largest diameter UV liner we’ve supplied to a UK contractor and we haven’t heard of any as big as this being installed in the UK before.

“The project demonstrates an expansion of what can be achieved by UV CIPP by matching advances in manufacturing and UV lining systems with the installation expertise of Lanes as a contractor.”

Lanes, the UK’s largest independent drainage and wastewater maintenance service specialist, has more than 25 years of experience lining of sewers and industrial pipe systems.

To provide the 100-year design life required, the IMPREG GL15 liner had to be 15.5mm thick, contributing to its 9.5-tonne weight.

The power of the UV light train was also supercharged. Its three mega light cores had a combined power output of 36,000 watts, three times higher than a standard light train used to cure a 1200mm liner.

A key reason this extra power was needed was Lanes’ decision to install one of IMPREG’s latest non-thermal liners, which do not contain a curing accelerant, peroxide.

Gary Carey, the Lanes Lining Supervisor, who led the project, explained: “Peroxide makes the resins more reactive to heat from the UV bulbs, speeding up the curing process.

“The disadvantage is that peroxide liners have to be transported in refrigerated trucks which can add to installation costs.

“Liners containing peroxide must be installed more quickly than conventional ones, especially in hot weather. Given the heatwaves we’ve experienced this summer, using the new non-thermal resin was a wise choice.

“The technology’s been developed to extend the use of UV lining in countries with hotter climates. This project demonstrates how, thanks to climate change, it’ll have advantages in the UK as well.”

A Lanes civils team exposed two 3-metre-diameter concrete chambers beneath the road, between which the liner would be installed.

In an 18-hour operation, a 10-person Lanes team carried out the installation on 17 August 2022, pulling the liner though the storm drain with a 10-tonne winch. 

The liner was inflated with compressed air to a pressure of 250 millibars. Then the UV light train was sent through at a speed of between 50cm and 70cm a minute, curing the liner in 70 minutes.

The following day, six lateral connections were reopened. Finally, the Lanes civils team returned to reinstate the road surface to its original standard.

www.lanesfordrains.co.uk


 Thi artice also featured as our cover story for the November/December isue below

 

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