Thanks for bearing with us, says Leicester council as roadworks return
Motorists, pedestrians and workers have been thanked for their patience after a road was dug up for the second time in just over a year.
An unforeseen glitch has meant that diggers have returned to Princess Road West a year after a project to put down hot water pipes was completed.
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Leicester City Council is digging up parts of the city centre to lay down pipes for a £15 million district heating system. This aims to provide environmentally-friendly energy to thousands of homes and buildings.
When Princess Road West was dug up last year, engineers found old pipes that they did not expect. They had to get past them to lay the heating system, extending the job by several months.
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They were on site from July to September 2011.
A recent test by contractor Cofely found there was a problem and a further section of pipes was needed. Digging started again early last week to insert new piping and it is expected to be completed by tomorrow.
Deputy city mayor Councillor Rory Palmer said: "A project of this scale is bound to come up against occasional glitches but I'm really pleased that, overall, work on the district heating system is ahead of schedule.
"We are very grateful for the patience people have shown while this work has been carried out."
An office worker in Princess Road West, who did not want to be named, said the work was causing a lot of nuisance.
She said: "People have lost parking spaces while the work has been going on and the noise from the machinery makes it very hard to concentrate. It's almost impossible when you're on the phone to clients.
"They had the road up for months and months and we couldn't believe it when they came back and dug it up again.
"It's unbelievable."
Councillor Palmer said the full cost of the extra work would be met by Cofely and that the council was working with the company to minimise disruption in the area.
The district heating system, which will be one of the largest installed in Europe, includes five miles of pipes. Simon Woodward, chief executive officer of Cofely, said: "We apologise for the additional disruption to Princess Road West, where we have experienced particular difficulties during the installation of the system."
Comments
by silentmist
Wednesday, September 12 2012, 6:58PM
“I hated community heating when in St Matthews. I'm someone who rarely, if ever, uses heating and it puts an extra charge on top of your rent. Not good if you're poor.
It'd be better if they had some system where you only pay for what you use.”
by Fadanoid
Tuesday, September 11 2012, 7:29AM
“Despite the disruption this is a good deal for Leicester. Neither LCC nor any of the partners (UoL, LRI etc) are paying for the installation, it's all covered by Cofely. The deal is that Leicester buys its energy from Cofely for the next few years (25 I think).
Benefits are hugely reduced energy costs, much better heating and power efficiency and redundant heat provision across the city. For example if the LRI's boilers fail, they still get heating as all the DHS sites will share their heat to all the others.
See http://tinyurl.com/bqsah6n for more info.
P.S. I'm nothing to do with the scheme, I just know a bit about it as I work at one of the sites in the city that uses the scheme.”
by Goose
Monday, September 10 2012, 10:08PM
“More costs - more disruption, many of my friends don't come into Leicester because of our road network being frustrating & this just adds to it :(”
by Neil0123
Monday, September 10 2012, 6:11PM
“And do the motorists have a choice? If the council decide to keep closing the road and digging it up then it isn't done by referendum, is it?”
by leicester
Monday, September 10 2012, 4:49PM
“District Heating?
What is it?
Who is it for?
Who is paying for it?
What is the cost?”
by chemistman
Monday, September 10 2012, 3:56PM
“I know very little about this district heating system despite it being mentioned many times in relation to road closures. Who exactly will benefit? What is the total cost on installation expected to be. How many years will it be before the break even point?”
by Graham_LE8
Monday, September 10 2012, 9:03AM
“I doubt that this will be a solitary occasion where re-excavation is necessary - groundworks (especially of this scale) and the settlement that can take place afterwards, will often cause fracture damage or leaks to other utilities' plant that isn't apparent for some time. And that's no reflection on Cofely, it's just what happens with these things...”