Water and Effluent Treatment Magazine
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/607941
The Unite manhole cover has provided significant savings in lifetime maintenance costs for water companies' infrastructure The UniPak highway ironwork installation system addresses issues caused by poor founda- tions to increase the standard of ironwork installation 10 WET NEWS DECEMBER 2015 ONSITE MainTEnanCE have suffered foundation issues and that in 44% of cases, foundation problems are the sole cause of failure. Highways England also cites bedding as one of the main factors contributing to the current poor performance of chamber tops. The problem is not helped by current standards: BS EN 124, the European standard for manhole covers, fails to address issues such as the flexing of manhole cover frames – a significant cause of premature failure. The road surface damage caused by the failure of manhole covers leads directly to increased maintenance costs and disruption to road users. Drive down any typical high street and the large number of potholes next to manhole covers in a poor state of repair quickly becomes apparent. So with the causes and costs apparently clear, the gauntlet has been laid down for contractors and utilities companies alike to focus on lasting installations using high quality materials. With this 'prevention is better than cure' approach, the government says, intervening at the right time will reduce the amount of potholes forming and prevent bigger problems later. But a high- quality manhole cover can still be installed badly. For example if the bedding mortar used to support the installation is not up to scratch. An effective approach needs to achieve two distinct things – that ironwork is of high quality, and it is fitted right first time. Fortunately, as the pressure to eliminate installation errors increases, an integrated solution is available through builders' merchants. Manu- factured by Wrekin Products, this takes a logical approach to highway ironwork installation which satisfies both requirements. Wrekin Products has combined its high performance Unite manhole cover with the new UniPak highway ironwork installation system to offer a practical solution to these challenges outlined above. The result is longer life installations, reduced frequency of ironwork replacement and reduced whole life costs for asset owners. Its design increases the stiffness of the frame, distributes load more effectively and resists lateral forces to overcome the inadequacies of BS EN 124. Patented designed rounded edges and frame-grip surfaces are sympathetic to the bedding mortar, improving the bond. The Unite manhole cover has provided significant savings in lifetime main- tenance costs across the infrastructure of utilities including Scottish Water, Severn Trent Water and Amey. It is worth pointing out, though, that Unite is truly effective only when installed properly. It was for this reason that Wrekin Products launched UniPak to address the issues caused by poor foundations, in order to increase the standard of highway ironwork