The Solent blog

As the pipe-laying unfolded the Cross Solent Project
team shared the highs and lows of the scheme
through their blog diaries.

Installation is complete

I am delighted to say that the Cross Solent Mains are now complete all the way from mainland Hampshire to Gurnard on the Isle of Wight. The pipes have been pressured tested and disinfected prior to being used for public water supply.

The marine plant has now left the Solent with the pipe reels returning to Scotland and the barge to Holland.

Thanks to the efforts of Southern Water and our contractors 4D islanders can be safe in the knowledge that they have a safe, secure drinking water supply for both today and in the years to come.

Ben Green

14/05/2008 09:41:52

The Cross Solent main is in place!

Eric van der Poel is Project Manager for contractor Visser & Smit Hanab (UK) Ltd.

It is Sunday 02:00hrs and the people who live around Gurnard and Lepe might have heard the sound of horns and yelling across the Solent.

No it wasn't a May Day or any other distress call; it wasn’t a neighbour having an argument with a street light or a garden gnome but the shrieks of joy of my crew who had just laid the last section of the pipeline on the bottom of the Solent.

Yes we have finished the crossing of the Solent!

Eric van der Poel

27/04/2008 16:24:16

One down, one to go...

Eric van der Poel is Project Manager for contractor Visser & Smit Hanab (UK) Ltd.

I’m happy to say that yesterday late afternoon we buried the last couple of metres of the Eastern pipeline for the Solent Crossing. As this is a very peculiar pipeline it didn’t go down without a fight but as you can see we have won the match (just like PSV Eindhoven has won the Dutch Cup!).

We are now preparing the Lay-barge Pontra Maris for the second leg of the project, installing the Western leg of the Solent Crossing.

Eric van der Poel

22/04/2008 12:41:19

The pipe-laying begins!

Eric van der Poel is Project Manager for contractor Visser & Smit Hanab (UK) Ltd.

I’m happy to say we have started laying the Eastern leg of the Cross Solent Main.

Last week the transport barge NP300, towed by the tug Charlotte W, arrived in the Solent.

They quickly moored the transport barge alongside the lay barge Pontra Maris so the crew could start with the preparations for laying the NKT Flexible pipeline.

Yesterday morning the divers checked the flange connection on the sea bottom (26 metre below sea level) and all was fine.

In the afternoon we prepared the burial tool for starting to bury the NKT Flexible pipeline and we are now on our way to Lepe!

On Gurnard, a team of men are filling up the laid pipeline with water to help with the burial process.

Eric van der Poel

17/04/2008 11:52:10

The pipes sail into the Solent!

Exciting news - the barge carrying the giant reels loaded with the marine pipe from Denmark has sailed into the Solent and is alongside the pipe-laying barge the Pontra Maris.

Their journey to the Isle of Wight has been hampered by bad weather but now it's all hands on deck to prepare for the pipe-laying, which we hope to begin during the weekend.

Ben Green

11/04/2008 10:35:46

Pipes on last leg to Solent

After a weekend sheltering in Holland to avoid the bad weather, which saw snowstorms across the UK, the barge carrying the new Cross Solent pipes is nearing the Solent.

The pipes are now scheduled to arrive off the Isle of Wight towards the end of this week and soon after the pipe-laying operation will start in earnest.

So keep an eye on our webcams for the first sightings of the barge. And as soon as the marine work starts, we will bring you new video and pictures of the work from the deck of the Pontra Maris and first hand accounts of the progress.

Ben Green

Schools take part in live webchat

Keith Jeffery, Southern Water Project Manager, shares the highlights of today's live webchat with schools:

We held a live webchat today on the website which gave local schools an opportunity to ask our project team questions about the Cross Solent Main scheme.

In a lively two-hour session, we were asked more than 45 questions, which we replied to on the spot. We were impressed with the quality of the questions, which ranged from technical details to concerns about the environment. A few had us scratching our heads for a while, before the calculator came out!

This was the first time we have held a live webchat and hopefully it will open the door for more interactive opportunities in the future to learn about water and engineering. We also raised £100 for the charity WaterAid.

Take a look at the questions and answers on the Schools webchat page.

Keith Jeffery

03/04/2008 16:14:26

Pupils visit the Pontra Maris

Fred Caws, Project Officer for contractors 4Delivery:

Pupils from Cowes Primary School were given a close-up view of the pipe-laying barge the Pontra Maris as it waits in the Solent for the arrival of the pipes from Denmark.

Southern Water and 4Delivery staff were on hand to answer questions from the curious pupils about the scheme to lay the new water main under the seabed in the Solent.

The trip not only gave the pupils a first-hand look at how their drinking water is supplied but also sparked an interest in engineering and a possible career for the future.

Fred Caws

02/04/2008 15:23:03

The pipes set sail from Denmark

Barry Gosden, Project Manager for contractors 4Delivery:

The new underwater pipes manufactured by NKT have now been loaded on to huge reels on the barge which is transporting from their factory in Kalundborg, Denmark, to the Isle of Wight.

The NKT factory sits on a quay so the pipes were loaded directly from here on to the 15 metre diameter reels which have been fixed to the deck of the transport barge.

The barge has now left Kalundborg and is crossing the North Sea with the pipes and is expected to arrive in the Solent early next week.

Barry Gosden

02/04/2008 14:46:43

Expertise from the Netherlands

Eric van der Poel is Project Manager for contractor Visser & Smit Hanab (UK) Ltd.

I was delighted when my manager told me that Visser & Smit Hanab (UK) Ltd had been awarded the Cross Solent Main Replacement Scheme in 2006 and I was to be the project manager.

In May 2006 we formed a project team, based at my headquarters in Papendrecht, a small city east of Rotterdam. As you probably all know, Rotterdam is a city in The Netherlands.

We had to generate a lot of documents and attend lots of in-house meetings because this is a unique project. We had four horizontal directional drillings, marine work on the Solent and laying two pipelines between the drilling.

In August 2006 we came over and set up an office at Lepe and the project really started. October 2006 one of the two drill rigs, the 150t drill rig came down from RAF Kinloss (Scotland) where they had drilled two outfalls for the RAF. We drilled the 1200m with a 24 inch drill bit and in December 2006 we pulled the first pipe from Norway into the drilled hole.

When the second drill rig arrived at Gurnard we had to install a soundproof barrier of straw bales because we were only a few feet away from a cottage. The other three remaining pipes were pulled in February and March 2007.

Now in 2008 we are busy loading the flexible pipes in Kalundborg (Denmark), to sail to the Solent where our barge Pontra Maris is ready to install the last section of the Cross Solent Water Main

Eric van der Poel

28/03/2008 10:36:32

Barge arrives in Solent

The Pontra Maris, the barge which will lay the new water pipes, has arrived in the Solent after sailing from Rotterdam.

Work is now underway to prepare for the arrival of the new water mains, which are currently being loaded onto another barge in Kalundborg, in Denmark, where they were made.

As the pipes are made of metal and plastic they are flexible, but the temperature has to be above 5C for them to be loaded safely on to giant reels. Given the chilly weather across the UK and northern Europe this weekend, the loading has been delayed a few days!

However, soon the barge with the pipes will set off across the North Sea – as long as the weather is good enough. As the two pipes are valued at more than £1 million each the company which insures them will only let the barge leave once they are confident the sea is calm enough for a safe journey.

Ben Green

Worth the wait...

There are only a few factories in the world which make this type of pipe and only one factory where the pipe is approved to carry drinking water, so we had to wait for them to be made. The wait will be worthwhile because they are made of the highest quality material and will last longer before needing to be replaced.

Ben Green

18/03/2008 11:15:53

Water supplies on the Isle of Wight...

Southern Water’s Regional Water Supply Manager Trevor Clark explains why the Isle of Wight needs more water.

The water which comes out of people’s taps on the Isle of Wight comes from three sources: the River Yar at Sandown Water Treatment Works, underground reservoirs called aquifers (groundwater) and from Hampshire via the Cross Solent Main.

The water pumped from the river is not as clean as the groundwater, so undergoes several levels of treatment, including disinfection, before it is supplied to homes.

The groundwater, which is pumped to the surface at boreholes, is also treated before being put into supply.

However, the supplies on Island alone are not sufficient to supply everyone, particularly during the summer so extra water needs to be transferred from Hampshire through the Cross Solent Main.

The first main was laid on the seabed 25 years ago and is being replaced by a larger one to meet the growing demand for water. It will be able to transfer up to 20 million litres of water a day – enough to fill 250,000 baths!

Trevor Clark

17/03/2008 11:43:27

Overcoming challenges

The biggest hurdle was buying the specialist marine pipes which would be buried under the seabed to replace the existing old pipes. We ordered them in November 2005 and they were due to be delivered to the Solent by the spring in 2007. But this got delayed and the delivery date was moved to spring this year.

Ben Green

02/03/2008 08:44:12

First steps

Civil Engineer Ben Green is project manager of the Cross Solent Main Replacement Scheme for Southern Water.

When I started work for Southern Water in 2005 I was delighted to be put in charge of the Cross Solent project. It’s fascinating from an engineering point of view and more importantly vital in making sure everyone on the Isle of Wight has enough drinking water now and in the future.

The first major step was getting planning permission from the relevant councils and a special marine licence to work in the Solent and under the seabed. We consulted with everyone who may be affected by our work and got approval on our first application, which was a great start by the team.

Ben Green

01/03/2008 09:12:12