Utilities

Civil Engineering

Working across all industry sectors, we have the knowledge and expertise to provide services on the civil engineering requirements of infrastructure projects which include detailed groundworks. We aim to help you identify any issues and report on site conditions and the opportunities that can be created by practical and innovative design. We will work closely with the project team and stakeholders to ensure the project deliverables and goals are achieved or exceeded while providing sustainable solutions.

Oakbank specialise in civils for telecommunications sub ducts and drainage however we have completed other works as follows:

• Electricity
• Cable TV and communications
• Telecommunications
• Gas
• Water

All ducting is laid as straight as possible. If required, we can carefully bend the ducts or use pre-formed bends - there can be no more than one pre-formed 90° bend in any single run of duct. Pre-formed 90° bends cannot be installed in any duct linking two joint boxes. Footpath or service strip ducting is laid at 350mm depth of cover. All space alongside the duct is backfilled with granular fill to a minimum thickness of 75mm. For all Single Dwelling Units (SDU) ducts are terminated on the external surface of the property. All ducts are provided with a draw rope after installation unless it is agreed locally to substitute the draw rope with a cable.

CCTV Surveys

We can conduct complete CCTV surveys with the latest technological equipment allowing us to inspect from chambers, manholes, gullies, stack pipes, toilet pans and more. Ranging from 50mm - 900mm pipework, the survey is processed to enable us to supply video footage to the client.

CCTV surveys may be used to investigate duct installation, recurring blockages, long-term issues, and potential collapsed ducts/drains. The average CCTV survey will be completed within two hours; we can also carry out full site surveys on any size location. We can excavate and remedy any ducts/drainage problem such as broken ducts or pipework and manhole chamber reconstruction. We use specialist equipment to enable us to remedy residential, commercial, and agricultural problems from point of connection to the main sewers.

Our trained operatives can excavate, remove, and replace drain covers, broken pipework or broken ducts. Using ‘Sonde’ location equipment we can pinpoint hidden chambers to uncover buried sections of pipework and manholes. We can assess leaks and potential drainage issues and, once the cause has been identified, excavate the affected location to resolve the issue with minimal disruption.

Telecommunications Duct / Chamber Installations

We have experience in installing plastic chambers, made from GRP or HDPE, they are quick and easy to install and very safe to handle due to their lightweight. The chambers we have used are stackable with the ability to cut duct entry points, as required to meet the project specifications, making preformed plastic chambers extremely versatile. Plastic manhole sections are immensely popular as telecom chambers as they can simply be laid on the well-compacted ground and backfilled and fit the telecom cover.

We have experienced operatives in the major works drainage division who work on installing manhole chambers/covers (plastic, metal, cast iron) daily. Our teams are fully competent in using CAT & GENNY / Sonde equipment to locate other services to avoid any damages leading to outages

Recent Projects
• Peterborough hospital
• Addenbrookes hospital
• Hyperoptic
• Fibre highway
• Openreach FTTP
• Community Fibre
• Apple
• Fidelity
• Glencore
• HMRC

Other projects (including full scope of works) can be sent upon request. These works include full M&E to LCFC Training ground as well as full Fibre and data install to 2 Ford Motor facilities.

We have recently completed a fibre install at Peterborough Hospital, installing 4k of fibre around the perimeter of the campus, we know how delicate fibre is and how to handle this for external pulling. When pulling fibre it has to be handled / pulled correctly – any tight bends or twists can cause macro bends / micro bends which will affect the performance of the fibre.

We have recently completed a fibre install at Fidelity campus, installing 3k of fibre linking up 3 different buildings. Various ducts were used to get between these buildings. Unfortunately, no rope was left within the ducts, so we had to use our CCTV Survey to view all ducts before attempting our fibre pull sing the Cobra system as a route down.

Drain lining and patch repairs

We can carry out drain repairs where excavating is not possible or feasible. As a ‘Renoline’ approved contractor we can cast a resin sleeve through existing defective drains and pipe systems. This can be used on pipework that is disjointed or cracked to prevent further leaks and blockages. We also carry out patch liner repairs which enable small areas to be repaired between manholes or stacks, repairing only the small, damaged section.

Ranging from 75-300mm diameter drainage, we can supply and install drain liners to get the drainage flowing again, rectifying any possible faults within the section of drainage the liner is applied to.

Current Work
We are currently working on various estates all over London providing the capability of a 1Gb internet service through the installation of a fibre optic backbone, connected to a series of switches and a data cable solution, routed through various different buildings to each individual apartment. We splice a fibre connection from the main incoming network directly to a central communications cabinet within the development and terminate it on an optical fibre switch. The network provider will build a fibre optic cable backbone (spine) to support several other fibre switches strategically located within the development. The cable route and building route is surveyed in detail by our project managers and a fibre topology is issued to the works teams.

When pulling fibre we have all the equipment as described below to ensure a smooth install:

Cable Jacks - Hold cable drum to allow free movement.
Pumps - Clear manholes of any standing water.
Rollers - Guides cable into ducts and reduce friction and sheath damage.
Gas Testers - To detect poisonous and asphyxiating gases as well as explosive.
Cable Socks - To grip the outer sheath of the cable and allow the cable to be drawn.
Swivels - Connects between the cable sock and the draw rope to prevent cable twist.
Fused Swivels - Coupled between draw rope and cable to ensure not to exceed pulling tension.
Comms Link - To enable contact between the pulling team and the drum team so correct pulling speed may be maintained and stopped if a problem arises.
Rods - Used for short lengths instead of draw rope or to install draw rope.
Cobra cable reel - used if no rope has been left in the duct
Draw Ropes - To pull the cable through the ducts. Most duct systems will already have draw ropes installed.

We hope the above suits the opportunity to work with you and we look forward for any opportunity to showcase the capabilities of Oakbank Solutions in various works you may be contracted to undertake.