GPS PE Pipe systems has helped Premier Inn with its £125m airport build programme by supplying products for the water and gas infrastructure at the new Stansted Airport hotel.
Constructed by main contractor, McAleer & Rushe, the facility is close to existing water and gas mains but had no existing pipework connecting the site to the utilities, so sub-contractor H J Services & Sons laid a total of 192 metres of GPS Excel (PE100) water pipe and 312 metres of GPS PE80 gas pipe.
McAleer & Rushe specified PE pipe for the installation for its performance, cost and durability characteristics. Both gas and water pipes were laid in an open cut installation with lengths of pipe welded together to form strings before being lowered into the trench.
For the water installation, H J Services used a combination of 125mm and 90mm blue Excel piping in SDR17 to manage varying levels of water pressure, which reaches six bar in some areas of the site. And because gas pressure to the site is low, it used a larger 180mm diameter size of yellow PE80 pipe in SDR17.6 to ensure a sufficient flow of gas.
Elsewhere, GPS Protecta-Line PE barrier pipe was employed for both the drinking water supply and the fire hydrant feed at Tesco’s new ‘carbon zero’ store in Wrexham.
Construction of the store follows development of a new stadium for one of Wales’s oldest football clubs, Cefn Druids AFC. The store is being built on the site of the team’s former ground which was previously a bus depot and that, along with a history of industrial and mining use in the area, led to the specification of Protecta-Line for the water infrastructure installation.
Paul Charlton, site manager for LX Engineering, the contractor responsible for laying the pipe, said: “Protecta-Line is nominated as the barrier pipe solution on most Tesco sites, where there is any evidence of contaminated land or possibility that contaminants will be an issue in the future.
“This store is located close to a chemical factory and the ground may have been contaminated by diesel in the past but Protecta-Line will ensure complete protection from any contaminants to the water supply.”
Image: Earlier this year GPS launched its next generation piping, Excel New Blue, a blue PE100 pipe with a black core.
