Digging holes in the road is not a patch on Lanes technology

Lanes Group has proved its no dig drain repair technology is a much better solution than excavation when speed and cost-control is of the essence.

A highway construction contractor called in drainage engineers at the Lanes depot in Chester after spikes were driven through a pipe by mistake.

The damage to the surface water drain installed as part of a new road scheme on Merseyside needed to be repaired quickly.

Lanes Group engineers sent a remote-controlled robotic cutter along the 225mm diameter pipe to cut off the spikes.

They were then flushed down the pipe with a water jet delivered by a Lanes jet vac tanker, and removed from the drain at the nearest manhole.

The pipe was then repaired using a technique called cure in place pipe (CIPP) patch lining.

This involved a fibre glass sleeve impregnated with resin being placed over the holes created by the spikes.

A rubber packer was then inflated to firmly press the sleeve against the pipe’s inner wall, where it was then left to cure, or harden.

Once this process was complete, the packer could be removed, leaving the surface water drain with a tough new waterproof inner wall.

Without access to this trenchless drain repair technology, the highways contractor would have had to dig up the road, and replace the section of damaged pipe.

This method of pipe repair would have taken longer, been more disruptive, and cost more.

Lanes Chester Area Development Manager Ian Clapham said: “Our client was very pleased with the outcome.

“The new section of road was just about to open, so the last thing they needed was a delay to proceedings.

“In some cases, not meeting completion deadlines on construction schemes like this can result in financial penalties.

“So the quicker and easier drain repairs like this can be carried out, the better. That’s where our no-dig pipe repair systems very much come into their own.”

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