The brief
Affinity Water called us in to Hayes, west London, to install a line stop on one of their water mains. The line stop wasn’t the endgame here. A separate construction project needed to proceed, and that project’s working envelope overlapped with the live water main. The job for us was to isolate the section of main involved so the construction works could go ahead without taking the wider network out of service.
Our approach
Line stops are installed under pressure. The fitting is drilled directly into the live main using specialist under-pressure drilling equipment, and a temporary stopper is set inside the pipe to isolate the working section. The rest of the main stays live, customers stay in supply, and the construction team can work around the now-isolated stretch without network disruption.
Ian and the crew set up the line stop equipment, drilled the main under pressure, installed the stopper, and handed the isolated section over for the construction works to proceed.
- Technique
- Line stop via under-pressure drilling
- Purpose
- Enable third-party construction works
- Supply impact
- Main stayed live, customers unaffected
- Crew lead
- Ian and team
- Client framework
- Affinity Water R&M
Outcome
Line stop in place, construction works proceeded, main stayed in service throughout. This is the pattern of work where a water utility calls us in as the specialist: another contractor is on site, a live main is in the way, and the job is to isolate that main without a network shutdown so the wider project can continue.
For broader technique context see our line stopping and under-pressure drilling pages. The service context sits under water mains repair and maintenance for water companies.
