Elliptical pipes were recently employed to offer a stormwater attenuation and storage solution for a new 48 property housing development in Pontefract. The £8M investment by Barrat Homes was built over a 3.2 acre site in a greenfield area. Therefore there was a need to ensure that the local environment was not impacted. This would require stormwater peak flows off site to mimic the existing situation. 

Due to the site’s nature, and its steep landscape, there was limited depth available to install an underground tank. The need for vehicle loading to National Highways standards. 

Luke Martin, engineer for Barratt Homes explained that circular storage pipes “… would not have large enough cross sectional area to keep attenuation within the lower part of the site. We would have needed very deep drainage with extensive costs associated”. Elliptical pipes also do not need any in-situ secondary inverting to form dry weather flow channels or additional jointing material due to its integrated watertight elastomeric gasket. 

The Stanton Precast team then worked closely with design consultants on the set up and design of side entry manholes. A total 31 elliptical pipe units (DN2650 x 1500) were supplied, along with fittings and end walls. An addition, a further 22 DN1600 circular pipes were supplied to replace the originally specified plastic pipes. 

The project contractors, PJ Towey Construction ltd, were also pleased with the level of support and site training offered to help with the management and installation of the elliptical pipes on site. Martin Towey (PJ Towey Construction Ltd) noted that Stanton Precast members of staddd, including technician Chris Taylor, were “…a great help to the guys on site and made it a lot easier to work with the elliptical pipes. Overall we were really happy with the products, services and ease of installation. Once the team got started the installation was quite quick”.