December 12, 2017

Using the Live Mains Insertion (LMI) method, tRIIO, a joint venture owned by Skanska UK and Morrison Utility Services working on behalf of Cadent, Britain’s largest gas distribution company, recently inserted a new 355mm PE gas main 740 metres into an 18” underground cast iron pipe in one push. This exceptionally long insertion, given the diameter of the PE, was carried out in minimum time...

February 13, 2017

Steve Vick International’s (SVI) Contract Service team have renewed ten 1.5” live gas risers in multi storey buildings in an affluent suburb of Leeds, without the need to decommission the services whilst the work was in progress. Using their Live Gas Riser Transfer technique, SVI were able to offer Northern Gas Networks (NGN) a service that kept external pipework to a minimum and thus...

January 5, 2017

Location: Winfrith Project: Isolation of four Primary Circuit Feeder Pipes from the Steam Generating Heavy Water Reactor Contractor: Magnox Limited (previously RSRL) Equipment: SVI FOAMBAGS™, umbilical filling system, CCTV and closed cell polyurethane foam Steve Vick International (SVI) has recently completed a project for Magnox Ltd. The project required SVI to design, test and...

April 20, 2015

Due to potential leakage, it was necessary to replace two 3” steel gas service risers in a block of some 35 flats at the point where they entered the building. To avoid disrupting residents’ gas supply, with the subsequent need to test, purge and relight each dwelling, it was decided to carry out the operation live using Live Riser Transfer. This technique allows a gas riser to be partly...

After extensive research, Wessex Water selected the new trailers because they found them to dispense pipe very smoothly and quickly thanks to a hydraulically raised hexagonal central drum configuration. Wayne Johnson, explains, “With the trailers we were using we had to allocate two or three operatives to assist in dispensing the PE pipe but with these new trailers, the pipe comes off so...

Located in a busy area of Dudley, the gas mains that run under Shaw Road in the West Midlands town not only serve numerous homes and businesses but are also feeder mains for the local gas network.  West Midlands Gas Alliance, a partnership between National Grid and engineering contractor Morgan Sindall, embarked on a renewal programme of an 800m stretch of pipeline, running from the old gas...

A leaking drain which was causing waste water to enter the basement pool complex of a luxury Kensington town house was successfully sealed off by Dyno-Rod using the DRAINBLOCK BAG™ technique developed by Steve Vick International. Dyno-Rod franchisee, Candid Services Ltd of Staines, Middlesex, were called in when the home owners found water on the floor around their underground swimming pool....

As part of the push to ensure all gas replacement works are completed before the Olympics arrive in London, National Grid Gas called upon Steve Vick International’s Special Contracts Team to carry out a Live Gas Main Stub End Abandonment on a 12” low pressure cast iron main, in the heart of Piccadilly. Where a new 315mm PE pipe had been laid, the existing 12” cast iron main needed to be...

Farmoor supplies water to areas including Oxford and Swindon and the contractors were given only a 12 hour window to complete the project. Damar sub-contracted the cutting operation to Steve Vick International Ltd who used the N600 Keel cutter supplied by South+West Pipe Tools. The hydraulically powered machine automatically tracks around the circumference of the pipe wall whilst the tungsten...

  Southern Gas Networks (part of Scotia Gas Networks) has recently renewed a 3” steel gas riser in a four storey block of 45 flats in Southwark, London, using the Live Riser Transfer technique. This enabled the company to replace the service without turning off the supply, thus avoiding inconvenience for the consumer and reducing costs at the same time. When compared with using...

The technique was introduced into the UK in the 1980s by British Gas and has been pioneered and enhanced over three decades by Steve Vick International. Essentially, the major advantage of keeping the old cast iron main live whilst inserting it with a new PE pipe, is that customers are off gas for much shorter periods and, being a trenchless technology, it results in far less disruption to road...

Steve Vick International was recently called in to solve a problem of rat infestation at a householder’s property in Cardiff. The large property had recently been renovated and extended resulting in the need for a new drainage system. The new kitchen in the home was built partly over a previous downstairs cloakroom where the vertical WC drain had not been blocked off.  After the owners had...