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 existing pipeline crosses 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 will be laid. The necessary consents for that were granted in August 2016.

A joint venture made up of Skanska, PORR Bau GmbH and A.Hak are designing and building the new tunnel and section of replacement pipeline for us. Work to set up on site started at Goxhill in January following the completion of archaeological excavations.

These initial site set-up works have 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. Work to set up site at Paull on the north side of the River Humber is set to start in Summer 2017.

Construction on the tunnel will start from Goxhill in late 2017. The works are due for completion during 2019.

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’ve been working 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.

There will inevitably be an increase in traffic while work is being carried out. Heavy goods vehicles are needed to remove excavated materials from the site and to deliver construction materials and equipment. We have 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’ve also put in place additional measures as the works have got underway to address local concerns. A temporary construction route at Soff Lane and a one-way traffic management arrangement for our construction vehicles is now operational.

We would like to thank local residents for their patience and cooperation whilst we’ve been getting those arrangements in place and whilst we carry out the work to install the replacement pipeline.