Canal crossing at Preston (PWDR)

Lancashire County Council are building a major new road - the Preston Western Distributor, which will link Preston and southern Fylde to the M55 motorway.

Led by main contractor Costain, the £200m scheme will increase capacity on the existing local road network via the construction of a new motorway junction, four new bridges and three underpasses.

As the pipework and drainage contractor, SGC Civil Engineering were responsible for the installation of a 450mm twinwall pipe across the Lancaster Canal. This involved close collaboration with both Costain and the Canal & River Trust to schedule works to minimise disruption to narrowboats using the water, as well as protect the wildlife in the area.

The installation consisted of damming off the canal using a portadam and then setting up a large overpumping system consisting of 3 x 12’’ pumps, complete with appropriate telemetry. This was crucial as the Lancaster Canal has no lock gates, so failure would have had a devastating effect on the surrounding area.

Once the portadam had been installed and the overpumping was in operation, we could start to drain down within the portadam. At this stage we brought in a specialist fish rescue contractor to ensure we complied with the requirements of the Freshwater Fish Directive. Pike and Rudd were saved in the process.

Upon final drain down, we could install secondary measure stanks to ensure the safety of the operatives and the preservation of the canal. After installation of the pipe across the canal, we reinstated the canal bed using specialist puddle clay to seal the area and renewed the clatter boards. The canal was then refilled and the area was made good.

The whole operation from start to finish took two weeks.