River Humber pipeline replacement

North East

The River Humber pipeline is an important pipeline - connecting an import location for gas at Easington, on the East Yorkshire coast, to the national network – delivering gas supplies to millions of customers throughout the UK.

The previous pipeline crossed the River Humber in a trench on the river bed, between Paull on the north bank and Goxhill on the south bank. Over time, tidal patterns have eroded the river bed covering the pipeline and work was carried out to keep it buried.

Recognising that a longer-term solution was needed, we worked with North Lincolnshire Council and East Riding of Yorkshire Council to develop plans to build a new tunnel under the River Humber, through which a replacement pipeline was laid. The necessary consents for that were granted in August 2016.

A joint venture made up of Skanska, PORR Bau GmbH and A.Hak designed and built the new tunnel and section of replacement pipeline for us.

Initial site set-up works included carefully stripping and storing topsoil, installing site security and project offices and improvements to local roads in line with the traffic management plan set out with the Highways Agency and North Lincolnshire Council.

Construction on the tunnel started from Goxhill, North Lincolnshire, in late 2017. Construction was completed in 2020.

Community

Whilst these works are important to keep gas flowing to thousands of UK homes and businesses, we are equally committed to minimising disruption to local communities and the environment. We worked hard to ensure a very thorough assessment through the planning stages and to put in place measures to manage the impacts that the work may have on the surrounding area.

Heavy goods vehicles were needed to remove excavated materials from the site and to deliver construction materials and equipment. We worked closely with the Highways Agency and North Lincolnshire Council to prepare and implement a traffic management plan to minimise the impact on local roads. We also put in place additional measures as the works have got underway to address local concerns.

We would like to thank local residents for their patience and cooperation while the work took place and while we carried out the work to install the replacement pipeline.