Record-breaking pipe bursting by K’nex

When a glass reinforced plastic (GRP) sewage rising main burst in the seaside resort Aberystwyth, it was not only inconvenient – it happened on August Bank Holiday weekend – but it was also imperative to minimise any spillage to the nearby beaches.

Welsh Water urgently contacted Morrison Construction, its Capital Alliance partner, whose tier one contractor K’nex Pipelines immediately installed a temporary overland rider to contain the existing flow, using 500m of Uponor’s 450mm black polyethylene pipe.

The ten-year old main had corroded, and Welsh Water decided to renew the entire 1km length. Uponor was able to get pipe deliveries rapidly to site, for both the overland requirement and for the subsequent damaged pipeline.

K’nex then burst the existing pipeline using 1km of Uponor’s 500mm black polyethylene pipe.

Wayne Hughes, K’nex director, says: “We broke all records in pipe-bursting technology, putting 300m of pipe in during a single shift. I only made the phone call to Uponor’s Nigel Tonge on the Thursday night, and I was unloading over 1,500m of pipe on site 450 miles from Uponor on the following Monday morning.”

K’nex completed the the job within 14 days. In the event two of Aberystwyth’s beaches were closed for a short period, but the speed of the installation meant that tourism was soon able to get back to normal.