International Quarter London

The installation of utilities during our enabling works presented numerous challenges as excavations ranged from 0.5m deep to 3.8m deep. We constructed trenches for district heating, district cooling, electrical ducts, communication ducts and water and gas pipework. The district heating trenches were 3.5m deep and 1080m long. All excavations were open-cut and constructed using steps and batters to make all areas safe and work-friendly for our operatives.

Through our established relationships with IGTs (Independent Gas Transporters) and Thames Water, we supported the client in overcoming design approval delays by taking full ownership of both the design process and the associated adoption legal requirements. By delivering the gas and water network designs on the client’s behalf, we mitigated programme risk, avoided additional costs, and ensured a more efficient and streamlined delivery.

In addition, we had to dig through lime-stabilised ground which was difficult, as it required a mechanical breaker to break it up before it could be excavated to required levels. We used our vacuum excavator to safely excavate around live cables.

The phases of work were sequenced one trench at a time, with close traffic management to address the challenge of the site’s extremely tight footprint whilst ensuring the highest standards of health and safety and programme efficiency. The district heating connections we installed ran outside of the site boundaries and interfaced with a live road. Despite these challenges, all utilities were installed safely and successfully without affecting the programme.