Rigby Road Rising Main, Pumping Station & Attenuation Works, Blackpool

A £60m housing scheme creating a “new neighbourhood” in the heart of Blackpool was unveiled by Blackpool Council which detailed almost five hundred new “affordable” homes are to be built on land surrounding Rigby Road and Seasiders Way close to Blackpool FC’s stadium.

The project required the installation of 500 metres of new gravity drainage pipes to service the existing highways and the proposed new additional development area. In the vicinity of the new development, new concrete drainage pipes varied in diameter from 600mm to 1500mm diameter and formed the new gravity system. The gravity system was designed to provide attenuation, hence the large diameter pipework, and included 29 manholes varying from 1500mm diameter to 3000mm diameter and from a depth of 2.0m to over 6.0m deep. A 3.0m diameter x 6.0m deep wet well at the edge of the development was installed with new heavy-duty pumps (1 duty & 1 standby).

A new 280mm diameter PE rising main (fusion butt welded) took the surface water away through the town and out onto the promenade where a new connection was made to an existing outfall manhole. The length of the rising main from the pumping station was 400 metres and included three air valve chambers. The rising main pipeline was installed in the centre of busy town centre streets under road closures with planned traffic diversions in place.