What do you do if you need to install new underground electricity cables and part of your route involves crossing a community cricket field, the River Brent, a railway line and the M4 motorway?
The answer is to use a Horizontal Directional Drill ('HDD') to burrow a tunnel 900m long and 37m deep and install the ducting ready to feed the cables through to the other end at a later date.
Not only does this take care of the engineering challenges involved in crossing a main traffic route in and out of London, it means that SEPD is carrying out this essential work with the minimum amount of disruption to the local community, road-users, rail commuters, river users and cricketers.
Southern Electric Power Distribution is currently working on a project to replace 15km of underground cable between its substations in Ealing and Osterley in West London.
The £19m project, which is due to be completed in December 2015, sees our colleagues and contractors working in some of the most densely populated areas in the SEPD distribution patch, where any digging on the local roads and pavements requires very careful planning.
SEPD has been in close liaison with the local council and stakeholders for the past three years, and by using this HDD, the company is demonstrating its commitment to get the job done as quickly and safely as possible with least amount of upheaval for everyone living and working in the area.
In the video below SEPD Project Manager Chris Smith explains more about the HDD.
Photo above shows Chris Smith (far left) and members of the team examining one of the HDD drill heads used as part of the drilling process.