Doocey Group completed new foul and storm water drainage connections to the existing Severn Trent Water networks in this busy central Birmingham location. Essential work for St. Annes Court set to be St. Modwen Homes first urban apartment project in the city centre.

The storm water connection was to an existing system in St. Anne’s, Lombard Street, Digbeth, Birmingham. This is a heavily used road in a very busy industrial environment. It is also a busy route for major infrastructure including many underground services into the city centre. It is heavily populated with underground assets including gas, water, EHV 132kVA cables, HV and LV cables and fibre optic networks. The original designed route was virtually impossible to implement due to the location of proposed manholes.

A ground penetrating radar company helped us to locate the underground services and view the results. Severn Trent Water were then invited along with St. Modwen Homes’ technical team to site to review the data and location restrictions. It was agreed the only way to successfully complete this project was to redesign the connection via a tunnel and connecting the new 300mm storm drain via a branch saddle to the existing storm drain with the method of a timber heading.

The works were successfully completed using the timber heading method, the length of the heading was 8 meters at a depth of 3 metres. The project was completed ahead of programme, all works were inspected by Severn Trent Water during construction and certificates issued for satisfactory completion.