Good evening 

I visited site today to see how our team are getting on. I spoke to a couple of customers and I was pleased with the progress of the team.

We are on site until Friday clearing the area. As you will have noticed the traffic management has now been removed. I have attached some photos from my visit today.

Thank you for your continued patience and support.

Christine

GREAT NEWS

THE AQUADUCT IS NOW OPEN TO THE PUBLIC 

Thank you for all your patience and understanding during our works.

Have a great Tuesday

christine

Afternoon all.

As anyone passing the works at Deepdale can see we are approaching completion of the project. All major works with the water mains have been completed and the main focus now is returning the area to normal as much as possible.

The site team are working to remove our temporary access roads and paths, complete surface structures and spread topsoil to previously green areas. Unfortunately, the green areas cannot be seeded at this time of year as frost will kill the germinating plants. It is also too cold to begin rebuilding the stone wall at the west end of the aqueduct as mortar will not set properly below 4⁰C. Theses works will be completed as soon as the weather allows.

The weather does not affect planting of hedges or fencing works so these should be starting in the next couple of weeks.

Northumbrian Waters aqueduct, locally known as the Silver Bridge, remains closed to the public for the time being as we are still working on the westside and cannot currently provide safe access. We will open the route as soon as we can.

We have extended the traffic management on Lartington Lane up the hill slightly to allow us to replace some missing kerbs but this will be reduced again in the next couple of days.

Final resurfacing of Lartington Lane is currently booked for the 2nd week in February and will require some alterations to the traffic management as the surfacing is on both sides of the road. One lane will always be open. Once this is complete we should be able to remove the traffic management entirely although some traffic control may be required for the remaining reinstatement works.

Final, there is no denying this has been a challenging job with several unexpected issues, unavoidable changes and extra works causing the project to take much longer than originally anticipated. As you can appreciate carrying out the extra work now rather than coming back again in a few months’ time was only logical and has reduced disruption in the long run.

Our main concern has always been that the water supply to the many thousands of people in Barnard Castle and the rest of Teesside was never interrupted or compromised, which I am please to say was achieved. That this was also achieved safely and too a high quality is a testament to the professionalism and hard work of the team as a whole.

As always, thank you for your continuing patience.

Dave

Afternoon all and a happy new year.

We are back at Deepdale completing the works onsite.

The final connection is now in place and ready to go. We just need approval from Northumbrian Water to say the water is clean and then the new main can be brought into service. This will be done slowly over a couple of days to avoid causing any discolouration or taste issues to your water supply. Once this is complete the process of removing the temporary water main over the bridge, backfilling excavations and general reinstatement can begin.

In the meantime, we are working to get as much of the advance reinstatement works done as possible, such as repairing the existing chamber walls which were removed to allow the new main to be connected.

We are working without traffic lights at the moment to minimise disruption to the public, but they will have to be put in place again on Monday 14th January to give us the required working room.

As always, thank you for your continuing patience.

Dave

P.s. Please be aware that the repeated build up of mud/slurry on Lartington Lane between our work area and the entrance to Deepdale nature reserve is not caused by us but is running down the hill from another site. We have kept and will continue to keep the road as clean as reasonably possible.

Afternoon all,

It may be the Christmas period, but works have continued apace at Deepdale.

The final connection is now in place ready to be tested and commissioned straight after the Christmas shutdown. This should represent the final major hurdle of the job. Whew!

Once the final connection is in service we can begin backfilling excavations, removing the temporary pipework over the bridge and generally bringing the area back to normal.

Like most construction contractors we stop works for the Christmas period, so our traffic lights will be removed Friday 21/12/18 at around 12:00 and won’t be returning until early in the new year. This will give all the commuters and locals a 2 to 3 week breather and I’m sure you’ll all be pleased to have a break from the disruption.

The team and I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Dave Eden

Good morning,

We at Esh-MWH and Northumbrian Water, along with our collaborative partners, wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.  So what better way than to release some Christmas cheer through a festive video. 

I hope you all enjoy watching this, as much as the team did pulling it together.

Merry Christmas

Christine

Good afternoon,

As the work continues on Lartington Lane, Barnard Castle, the festive period is upon us.  We had a surprise visitor yesterday in Deepdale Woods, visiting the children of Bright Woods Forest School.  Santa (aka Dave Eden) visited the children to deliver a present and wish them a Merry Christmas from our team. 

Whilst we were there, Santa and all the children wanted to send a special message to the local community.

We would like to thank Bright Woods Forest School inviting us to be part of thier day.

Enjoy

Christine

Good evening,

Please find below a copy of the letter which was posted today providing an update to residents.

Christine

Our Ref: WN016/0243-1.4

26 November 2018

Dear Customer

Following my last letter to you in September 2018 I would like to provide you with a further update on the Deepdale Water Main Renewal.

As you may recall this project which involves the renewal of a large aged water main is essential to ensuring that we can consistently provide a reliable supply of clean, clear and great-tasting tap water supplies to Teesdale and the wider area.

Northumbrian Water and its partners Esh-Stantec had anticipated the complex project would be completed by the end of 2018. However, during the final stages of the project, checks on a neighbouring pipe have unearthed work that, if not carried out now, would have been likely to have caused a future disruption.

Because we are committed to providing only the best quality water supply to our customers we have taken the decision to do further work prior to the completion of this project. This additional work, which we know is the right thing to do, mean that we now expect to be working on site until the end of March 2019.

Northumbrian Water continues to work closely with Durham County Council and Barnard Castle Town Council to keep disruption to a minimum. Traffic management around the work will be removed over the Christmas period from 21 December 2018 to 7 January 2019 and will be kept to to a minimum at other times. For safety reasons, Deepdale Aquaduct, which is often used as a pedestrian footbridge, will remain closed for the remainder of the works.

I will keep you updated as we move forward.  However, should you require further information or advice please contact our Customer Centre on 0345 717 1100 or tweet us @nwater_care to request a call back from the Project Team.  Thank you for your continued patience and understanding while we work to complete this complex project.

You can also find out more information about the project and receive regular updates on our community portal at www.nwlcommunityportal.co.uk which is updated regularly under the Deepdale Water Main Renewal Link.

Yours faithfully

Gary Cassells

Project Manager

Good morning,

I apologise for the delay in posting, we will now be posing a project update on Monday.

Have a great weekend.

Christine

Hi all,

Just a quick update to let you know that the traffic management has been re-established on Lartington Lane this morning. We had removed it for 12 days whilst we did not need the extra room but now it's back to the heavier works. The lane closure will be in place until the Christmas break. I hope the respite was of some help.

Dave.