Lanes engineers completed an “intensely technical” drainage excavation project for national hire firm Mabey Hire.
The work included the installation of a septic tank and a fuel interceptor tank. It was completed ahead of schedule, despite atrocious weather and challenging ground conditions.

Client’s view

“The Lanes team did a very good job, given that the ground conditions threw up quite a few surprises. It wasn’t straightforward at all.”
Mabey Hire Depot Manager Malcolm Ellis

The project

Mabey Hire commissioned Lanes Group’s Leeds depot to carry out a CCTV drainage survey, which revealed the sewer and surface water pipes under the company’s Dewsbury depot, measuring 180m by 70m, were badly damaged.

Lanes was then commissioned to carry out extensive repairs and install a 18,000 litre cesspool tank under the car park in the depot, and a fuel interceptor holding tank. What started as an already quite technical job on the site of the former railway yard soon became an intensively technical one.

Bad weather and surprise finds

The team found two buried 33,000 kva mains electricity cables in unexpected locations. They also discovered several tonnes of steel, left by a previous contractor under the concrete yard, which had to be cut through. The work was complicated by what the team described as “appalling” weather, with long periods of rain.

Despite these difficulties, helped by excellent support from Mabey Hire, the Lanes team completed the project two days ahead of schedule.
The project demonstrated the importance of following best practice procedures for excavations and the ability of Lanes teams to think quickly on their feet to safely and efficiently overcome serious challenges.

Cesspool tank successfully installed

The cesspool tank was needed for foul water from the plant hire offices because the nearest mains sewer was 400 metres away.
It needed an excavation 6m long, 4.5m wide and 5m deep to accommodate it. The Lanes team used 22 cubic metres of concrete to create a protective casing for the tank up to 20cm thick.

A large proportion of the 200 metres of surface water drainage pipe, with diameters of 100mm, 150mm and 225mm, also had to be excavated and replaced.