Water main upgrade completed in Leeds, Kent

23rd October 2023

A project to replace 535 metres of water main in a village in Kent has finished three months early, thanks to the expertise of engineers.

South East Water has today announced that a £1million investment into the water supply network in the village of Leeds, Kent, has been completed three months ahead of schedule.

Debbie and Jason Tharp, landlords of The George Inn on Upper Street, said, “We are absolutely delighted about the early completion of all the works in Leeds village.

“We would like to thank everyone involved in the works and the professional way the job was handled. We would like to send a special thank you to Liz, Tracey and Jeremy from South East Water for the way they liaised with us before and during all works.”

The project was carried out in two phases, with phase one completed last year mostly in private land. Phase two of the work began in July this year, and required the closure of Upper Street, a key throughfare between the A20 and Sutton Road.

When the work was first announced in the spring, the community were concerned about the effect of closing Upper Street for an expected six months on the narrow surrounding lanes.

Jeremy Dufour, Project Manager for South East Water, explained: “We created the programme of works based on our understanding of the network of other utilities’ infrastructure beneath the road’s surface. Due to this, we planned to install the new pipeline using the more traditional method of digging a trench in the road. However, due to the expertise, hard work, and dedication of our team on-site, we were able to identify a suitably clear route which allowed us to install the main using a more efficient drilling method.

“We had several public meetings ahead of the project starting to understand the concerns of closing Upper Street for so long, and worked with the community and Kent Highways to come up with a solution that balanced the sometimes-conflicting needs of businesses and residents. This led to us closing a number of other roads in the area, as well as employing marshals, to prevent congestion and keep traffic moving.”

The final stage of the work in Forge Lane was completed over the weekend and all traffic management removed from the area.

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