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NewswireTODAY - /newswire/ -
Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom, 2009/08/25 - Bristol Water has completed the installation of a Water Industry-approved system of polyethylene pipes and fittings at a brownfield redevelopment in Whitchurch, Bristol.
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The Protecta-Line barrier pipe system from GPS PE Pipe Systems was chosen as a precaution against any residual ground contaminants for the Hengrove Park regeneration project, under construction on a former airfield. Installation of the water supply system was completed in July.
Hengrove Park is the largest of Bristol’s regeneration sites, spanning 76 hectares. It is also the first project in which Bristol Water has specified large diameter Protecta-Line, in sizes 180mm, 250mm and 315mm. The company has previously used the Protecta-Line barrier system in smaller diameters, as this was the first, entire plastic system to achieve BSI Kitemarked status to WIS 4-32-19. The system is also WRAS and DWI approved.
Over half a kilometre of pipe was installed in open-cut trenches, by the construction contractor, Daniels. Butt-fusion and electrofusion jointing were used. Construction Manager, Shaun Rawlings, explains: “Our previous experience of the system was very positive and we had no problem in finishing this project on time. Installation procedures are not much different from a conventional PE pipe system. Both methods of jointing involve preparing the pipe ends using the Protecta-Line scraper to remove the outer PE skin and the aluminium barrier layer, without reducing the system’s pressure rating. Once the joint is made we must wrap it – as instructed by GPS - in Protecta-Line aluminium tape to re-instate the barrier across the joint and then add ‘Denso’ waterproof tape”.
The availability of large sizes of barrier pipe and fittings has helped to revolutionise water supply pipework for brownfield sites. Previously, installers were limited to using laboriously wrapped metal pipes for water supply when working in pipe sizes greater than 150mm bore but Protecta-Line now ranges from 25mm up to 355mm. It is now possible to install a safe plastic pipe system for a complete large-scale development, such as Hengrove Park.
The site opened as an airfield in the 1930s and closed to air traffic in 1957. Soil sampling and excavation, prior to construction beginning in September 2008, prepared the area for the £100 million redevelopment. The use of Protecta-Line further excludes any possibility of drinking water tainting as a result of any remaining traces of aircraft fuel in the ground.
A joint private and public sector initiative, Hengrove Park is in its first phase of development, which will deliver the new South Bristol Community Hospital, a higher education college, office complex and a leisure centre incorporating a 50m pool.
More than half of the space will be landscaped to create a park, whilst almost 20 hectares will accommodate new housing, offices and light industrial facilities.
Introduced by GPS PE Pipe Systems (gpsuk.com) in 1997, Protecta-Line leads the market as the most complete PE barrier pipe system available. Pipes are supplied in 6m lengths and in 50m or 100m coils, reducing the number of couplers required for large installations and saving costs. A fully integrated range of approved and compatible Protecta-Line fittings is available to give design flexibility, thoroughly tested to ensure integrity of the system’s permeation barrier.
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oxana.latypova[.]gpsuk.com 
