Water Works Set to Cause Four Months of Disruption in Town Centre

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Thames Water begin replacing Hammersmith's old iron pipes on Monday

Hammersmith's town centre faces four months of traffic disruption from Monday 6 March as Thames Water begins replacing up to 1,500 meters of old cast-iron pipework with tougher plastic pipes.

Thames Water says the existing iron pipes – some over 100 years old and buried deep underground – are more likely to leak and leave customers without water, as well as causing travel delays during emergency repairs.

The upcoming work, to ensure a reliable water supply in the area long into the future, is due to take place from the week of 6 March and is expected to last until early July. The work will take place:

• Between King Street and the junction of Leamore Street to the west
• Between the Queen Caroline Street outside the Apollo, north, to the junction of Black’s Road
• Fulham Palace Road at the junction with Talgarth Road

Neil Hancock, Thames Water’s project manager, said: "Work in Hammersmith to replace old water pipes is an essential job – to benefit customers now and way into the future. If we don’t do it, there’s a greater risk of leaky pipes and bursts, both of which could result in customers without water and travel delays because of emergency repairs.

"We’re sorry for any inconvenience our work will cause, but we will be working as fast as we can to get those old, leaky pipes, replaced with new, tough plastic ones."

Thames Water is working closely with Hammersmith and Fulham Council and has spent two weeks surveying in and around the named locations.

Thames Water adds that its Victorian mains replacement programme has so far seen 1,600 miles of new pipes installed across its region – enough to stretch from Hammersmith to the Romanian capital of Bucharest.

March 3, 2017