Jet vac technology – to infinity and beyond!

Water jetting and vacuuming technology supplied by Lanes Group has been used to help build a structure that will define high-tech – the new physics building at Oxford University.

The new Beecroft Building will be home to some of the world’s leading scientists doing cutting edge research.

Lanes was commissioned by principal contractor Laing O’Rourke to carry out water jet cleaning of the specialist groundwater drainage system built into the concrete shell of the basement structure.

The drainage system, made up of about 200 metres of 100mm-diameter pipe, feeds groundwater into a well. When the building is operational, a pump will discharge the water into the surface water drainage system.

Lanes, the UK’s largest independent drainage specialist, deployed a jet vac tanker to carry out the work. Its jetting and vacuum hoses were guided to the bottom of the basement via the building’s lift shaft.

Darren Lyne, Regional Manager of Lanes Group’s West London depot, said: “Even though we were lifting water a vertical distance of 60 feet, the vacuum technology on our jet vac tanker was able to cope.

“It is vital to clean and survey all new drainage systems at key stages in the construction process to clear blockage problems that would become more costly and more difficult to solve later.

“When you have a building that’s three floors underground, and is as sophisticated as this new physics building is going to be, that’s doubly the case, which is why we were pleased to be able to support Laing O’Rourke.”

Other research and academic facilities Lanes Group has carried out drainage cleaning and surveying work on include the new Francis Crick Institute in Central London, a biomedical research centre which opened in 2016.