Pipe Lining Protects Against Soggy Surfaces at Breakfast Cereal Factory

Drainage engineers from Lanes Group have helped make sure people can start their day with a crunch by lining hundreds of metres of pipework at a large breakfast cereals factory.

The team carried out the preventative maintenance project to ensure the surface water and foul pipes remained in good condition, minimising the risk of problems like localised flooding.

This kind of drainage maintenance work is a growing priority on factory sites where just-in-time logistics and access for production workers are both essential to the manufacturing process.

Climate change threat

Matt Jinks, Area Development Manager at Lanes Drainage Services UK, said: “Increasing flooding risks caused by climate change are encouraging our clients to review their PPM programmes.

“Global warming is triggering more volatile weather events, which can lead to potentially damaging localised flooding. Optimising surface water drainage systems is a key solution to this problem.”

The teams from Lanes Group’s national lining division worked on the Midland factory site during August and September 2024, using three cured in place pipe (CIPP) lining techniques.

They installed ultraviolet light and LED light CIPP full-length liners into different sections of surface water and foul water pipes with a combined length of 510 metres.

They also installed 20 CIPP patch repairs, which are short liners cured in ambient temperatures, in other sections of pipes where faults were found but where there was no need to install full-length liners.

Complex factory sites

Gary Carey, Lanes Group Lining Technical Manager, said: “Our drainage and sewer rehabilitation engineers have a huge amount of experience of delivering complex lining projects like this on live factory sites.

“We can dovetail our liner installation programme with the needs of production teams, in terms of how we schedule the work across the site and at what times, including operating at night.

“Also, thanks to the different types of advanced lining systems we use and the skill of our operatives, we can work in the very complex and limited spaces often found across factory sites.”

The work programme at the breakfast food factory was based on a full-site CCTV drainage survey that had identified faults in pipes with diameters ranging from 100mm to 450mm.

The faults found included cracked pipes, displaced joints, and blockages caused by root infestation and scale build-up. Further CCTV surveys were carried out as the liners were installed to ensure all faults had been identified and corrected.

Remotely-controlled light train

The Lanes Group teams also used advanced robotic cutters to remove some of the blockage material – including scale, roots and displaced pipework – before the liners were installed.

The remotely-controlled robotic cutters were also used to reopen connections with lateral pipes that the liners had covered when they were being inserted.

UV CIPP lining is one of the most flexible and sustainable pipe rehabilitation techniques available – giving Lanes Group the ability to line pipes with diameters from 150mm to 1800mm.

Liners made from flexible fibreglass matting, incorporating a layer of UV-light sensitive resin, were winched through pipes at the cereal factory, and then inflated with compressed air.

The Lanes Group lining team then sent a wheeled light train, incorporating a series of powerful UV lamps, through the inflated liner, triggering a curing process.

Once the resin had hardened, the compressed air could be turned off and the ends of the liner opened up, allowing the drainage pipe to be reinstated.

LED lining advantages

LED liners are installed in a slightly different way. They are inverted into pipes with compressed air, then an LED curing head attached to a flexible rod is sent through the liner.

With LED lining, the installation process can be controlled from just one pipe access point, a technique known as blind shot lining. It is also ideal for lining small-diameter pipes and pipes with tight bends in them.

Lanes Group’s lining teams put both advantages to good use during work at the breakfast cereal factory, including using the LED CIPP technique to line 100mm diameter pipes.