Following advice on water efficiency from the Environment Agency, Tesco turned to Polypipe Civils to provide a water recycling system for its stores, starting with Bridgend in South Wales. Working in close co-operation with Tesco's main contractor MITIE, Polypipe Civils supplied its Rainstream Rainwater Harvesting System, utilising two seamless polyethylene tanks, each with a capacity of 5,000 litres to cope with the 1,672 cubic metres of rainwater that falls on the store's 1,500 square metre roof area every year. The harvested rainwater is now used for all applications not involving drinking water or food preparation and accounts for around 36% of the store's total usage. The Rainstream system will recover the total capital outlay within the first 36 months of operation, saving the store in excess of £3,000 per year on metered water.

We provided the drainage and cable protection elements of the supply chain agreement for the prestigious Terminal 5 project at Heathrow Airport alongside Laing O'Rourke and AMEC. Ridgidrain was supplied to provide a surface water drainage system on the new runway and Ridgiduct was provided for the airside lighting at Terminal 5. Traditionally the cable protection is supplied in 6 metre lengths, however specialist manufacture was carried out to provide the cable protection in 12 metre lengths. This specially manufactured product demonstrated value engineering for the customer and reduced the time and cost of installation. Working in partnership with the contractors and merchants allowed Polypipe to supply 150mm cable protection pipe in bespoke pallet loads allowing the contractors to continually feed product onto site as and when required.

We provided a complete drainage system for a £16 million project in Macclesfield, for the development of the new Macclesfield College, as part of the £38 million Macclesfield Learning Zone Development. Contractor Interserve Project Services Limited worked with the partners involved in the project. The world-class educational campus consists of a new College, a new joint Sixth Form College, a new School for Henbury High School, a new joint Sports Centre, the European Centre for Aerospace Training (ECAT) and the integration of Park Lane Special School.

Interserve approached Polypipe Civils, to advise on and consequently supply a tailored solution for complete surface water drainage and stormwater management on the site. As the depth of installation required was critical from a health and safety aspect, background work was undertaken with the consultant management team and our team of expert designers and technical department.

A bespoke drainage system, combining Polypipe Civils' Ridgidrain, Polystorm and Ridgisewer products was recommended to provide the perfect solution to efficient drainage underneath the playground area and next to the main road. The system had to be designed not to interfere with the locations' existing drainage currently in place. 300 metres of Ridgidrain pipe was supplied by Polypipe Civils as a drainage system. The Structured wall pipes were laid to receive the rainwater collected from the road and car parking area.

400 cubic metres of Polystorm units were also supplied for attenuation purposes on the hardstanding area of the car park. These units were installed underneath the car park area to capture and store the rainwater before it is slowly released back into the existing drainage system, using our flow control unit, Stormcheck. 120 metres of Ridgisewer was also specified for the diversion of sewers underneath the car park area.

A tailored solution was provided for the cable protection of street lighting and electrical works as well as drainage on the site of the M60. The M60 has undergone road widening between junctions 5 and 8, designed to ease congestion for commuters. The work included the creation of two additional lanes on both sides of the motorway and several 'trunk' roads. Ridgidrain Advanced Drainage System was selected to provide an efficient and highly effective drainage system on the M60 site. Ridgiduct Power, Ridgiduct Lighting and Ridgiduct Comms were all selected as the preferred choice for use in street lighting and traffic signal applications by contractors Alfred McAlpine and AMEC, as all three products provide a light, flexible, yet robust alternative to conventional cable protection systems. 34,440 metres of Ridgiduct and 7,664 metres of Ridgidrain have been installed over the life of the project. We were able to supply a consistant range of pipes as and when required.

We supplied a modern, bespoke and complete drainage solution for the four kilometre long Chipping Sodbury Tunnel on the main-line rail link between London's Paddington Station and South Wales. Opened in 1902, the tunnel cuts through a major Cotswold aquifer and flooding had been a serious problem prior to the new solution being implemented. 600mm Ridgisewer, was agreed as the preferred pipe within the tunnel to cope with excess load bearing. 600 and 750mm Ridgidrain with a higher than standard wall thickness and 300mm Ridgidrain pipes were also installed outside the tunnel, with all piping constructed with nonstandard perforation patterns.

A 2100mm attenuation tank was required for use under a car park to help alleviate flooding during heavy rainfall as part of a £500,000 flood alleviation project near Swindon.

As the tank was specified as requiring a full concrete surround, to prevent floatation due to the site's high water table, Polypipe WMS' technical team were able to value engineer the pipe used to a stiffness classification of 1.0kN, ensuring that the tank was not over engineered. The design process was supported by Polypipe water management solutions as detailed tank design drawings were provided to assist the customer to ensure suitability for the project. With the project being the first time the customer had used large diameter pipes, Polypipe WMS was on hand to offer on-site guidance throughout. Additionally, we carried out the electro-fusion jointing on-site to the Ridgistorm-XL attenuation tank. Optimise is a joint venture between J Murphy and Sons, Clancy Docwra Ltd, Barhale Construction Plc and MWH, which delivers capital and operational projects across the whole Thames Water Region.

The project at Kilda Road highlights the versatility and flexibility of Polypipe's products, adapting the Ridgistorm-XL to meet specific surface water drainage requirements and incorporating a cost effective solution that could be easily installed on-site in rapid time.