National Grid, the UK’s largest utility, is planning to continue work to renew gas mains in central Manchester as part of an £96m package of improvements to 585km of the North West’s gas supply network.
Work in the Oxford Road area will start on 6th April and will take twelve months to complete at a cost of £4.2m. The main roads affected will be:
Albert Square, Mount Street, Peter Street, Oxford Street and Oxford Road (from St Peters Square to Hathersage Road) Ackers Street, Booth Street West, Cavendish Street, Higher Ormond Street, Lower Ormond Street, Charles Street and Whitworth Street.
Engineers be working at the junction with Grosvenor Street for a period of eight weeks from 6th April. During this time, Grosvenor Street will be closed to traffic in both directions and the traffic signals on Oxford Road will be reconfigured.
“The gas pipes which run beneath the streets of central Manchester have served us well but the time has now come to replace them. We know that this will be a nuisance, but the new pipes are designed to last at least 80 years once we get them in the ground” said John Edwards, of the North West Gas Alliance – a partnership National Grid has formed with Balfour Beatty to carry out the bulk of the renewal work in the region.
“Over recent years, we have sometimes made repeat visits to the same areas to carry out gas mains replacement but now our engineers will mainly concentrate on specific locations, replacing several kilometres of gas main over a period of months.”
Work has recently been completed on renewing large diameter gas mains along Deansgate and a number of main roads into the city centre. In all, National Grid invested £8.3m replacing 33km of gas mains in the Manchester area in the 2009/10 financial year.
Work during the new financial year has been planned in conjunction with the local authority. Advance warning will be given of work and diversion routes will be clearly signposted. Where possible, the new plastic pipes will be inserted inside the existing metal mains to reduce the need for excavations.
John added: “We will do everything we can to keep traffic moving while we are working and also to make sure local businesses can continue to operate as normal.”
The mains being replaced are a vital part of the local gas supply system. The work is part of an investment of over £2 billion a year in National Grid’s gas and electricity networks in the UK.
John said: “We know that people will obviously be concerned about the disruption but we are appealing for them to have patience with us during our work. The short-term pain will be followed by a long-term gain – a safe and reliable gas supply system for many years to come.”
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For further media information only contact Jeanette Unsworth, National Grid Media Relations on 01926 655372