Blackpool Solar Farm: Road and Brook Crossing

We recently completed a project installing electric ducts under a road and a brook in Blackpool for a solar farm installation. Working with Gallagher Construction (Northern) Ltd under extreme ground conditions, teamwork enabled the successful installation. The road crossing required an accurate drill of 180m to install a 110mm MDPE duct.

The main issue was a high-pressure gas main in the road which by steering the drill head we were able to avoid, drilling to a depth of 6.8m to drill under the pipe at a safe distance. The plan was then to move to another part of the site to enable us to drill under the brook to again install a 110mm duct.

Access to the site was restricted due to the late completion of a bailey bridge, so a revised plan was drawn up. The plan included drilling from the opposite side of the side than originally planned. The difficulty with this was the distance that we had to run to the hoses for the water supply to the drill rig. This was around 750m and caused a pressure drop leaving us needing a booster in-line pump to achieve the correct pressure to the drill head to drill.

Perseverance under extreme conditions as the field was also waterlogged paid off and we successfully drilled and pulled in the pipe.