The brief
Affinity Water called us in to install a pressure reducing valve (PRV) and a meter on one of their water mains at Brunswick Park. PRVs and meters are both control assets: PRVs manage network pressure by reducing upstream pressure to a stable downstream setpoint, and meters measure flow for either billing, district metering, or leakage management purposes. Both are standard network engineering kit, and both need to be cut into a live main.
Our approach
Under pressure drilling. Rather than shutting the main down, draining a section, making the cut-ins, and recommissioning the main (which is a lot of customer disruption for what is a control-asset install), we drilled into the live main under pressure at the required tie-in points. Pipe wall cut, pressure contained inside the drilling equipment, clean bore delivered, fittings jointed on.
With the PRV fitted, the downstream side of the main now has a controlled operating pressure — useful for reducing leakage rates, reducing burst frequency on older pipework, and protecting downstream assets. With the meter fitted, Affinity’s network team get flow visibility through that part of the network.
- Fittings installed
- Pressure reducing valve (PRV), meter
- Technique
- Under pressure drilling
- Supply impact
- Main stayed in service throughout
- Site
- Brunswick Park
- Client framework
- Affinity Water R&M
Outcome
PRV and meter commissioned onto a live main, no shutdown, no customer supply interruption. This is the standard pattern for network control-asset installs where shutting the main is the more disruptive option. See our under-pressure drilling capability page for how the technique is used across contexts. The service context sits under water mains repair and maintenance for water companies.
