St Johns Quarter is a new development around the former Granada Studios site. Drain Alert were commissioned by Roc Consulting to undertake a drainage survey of the adopted sewer which crosses the development boundary and runs within the surround highway and also provide a survey of adjoining pipes that head 50M both upstream and downstream of the connected manholes.
The survey is to confirm the layout, diameter, levels, condition and connectivity of the public sewers extending to the next manholes both upstream and downstream outside the development boundary. As a minimum the following information was required for all pipe work on the site.
- Pipe Conditions
- Pipe Materials
- Pipe Size
- Pipe Gradient
- Locations of Junctions
- Location of the sewer alignment depicted at ground level
- Connectivity of all drainage through dye testing
A manhole inspection record card had to be completed in full for each manhole. As a minimum the following information was required:
- Invert depths from the cover to each pipe entering/leaving the manhole
- Pipe diameters for all pipes entering/leaving the manhole
- A condition survey of the manhole including benching and cover/frame
- Cover and frame size
- A plan layout of the manhole detailing all connection points and their orientation to the main outfall, including flow direction arrows
- Manhole diameter and manhole arrangements including details of any landing slabs and accesses
Drain Alert worked in accordance with all relevant British Standards, industry guidelines and health and safety requirements. Working at St Johns Court has involved extensive traffic management and out of hours working in conjunction with Manchester City Council.
During the drainage surveys Drain Alert employed the use of their own Explosion Proof CCTV Camera to meet the new requirements of United Utilities. All of the United Utilities wastewater assets fall under the ‘Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations’ and as such all sewers are classed as ‘zone 2’. This means that any CCTV survey equipment used within the sewers must be intrinsically safe (Ex Rated) as to not cause ignition or spark in a potentially explosive atmosphere.
Drain Alert also deal with the network engineers at United Utilities and provide them with risk assessments and method statements (RAMS) including City & Guilds High Risk Confined Space training certificates and complete the necessary forms to obtain access certificates to the United Utilities Drainage Network.