Work starts to replace century-old pipe in Wash Common

Thames Water is carrying out a £500,000 project to replace the pipe under Essex Street

WORK is set to begin today (Tuesday) to replace a century-old pipe underneath an historical street in Wash Common.

Thames Water is to carry out a £500,000 project to replace the pipe under Essex Street to protect homes from flooding.

The project is set to take about ten weeks to complete.

The cast-iron main was laid more than 100 years ago in Essex Street – the site of the First Battle of Newbury in 1643.

However, it has burst 19 times since 1995.

Several schemes have been attempted to try and prevent flooding, but none have been successful so far and replacing 300 metres of the 12-inch diameter pipe with new and robust plastic piping is the next step to protect homes.

Thames Water's head of capital delivery, Lawrence Gosden, recently said that as well as wanting to strengthen the network against bursts, replacing the pipe would reduce leakage and help protect the water, which he said was under increasing demand.

Two-way traffic lights will be in place for the duration of the work, for which there will be a two-week break over the Christmas period.