National Grid is building an 18.5km pipeline, 1220mm in diameter, to transport natural gas from a new Above Ground Installation (AGI) at Harefield in the London Borough of Hillingdon to an existing AGI in Southall in the London Borough of Ealing.
The pipeline will be buried underground throughout its length. Part of the route passes through an urban area, where around 3km of the pipeline will be built in tunnels to minimise its impact on the environment and the community. The pipeline will also pass beneath major road, rail and river crossings using a trenchless drilling technique to reduce disruption to traffic. The remainder of the pipeline will be constructed using open trench methods.
The pipline is being designed and built for National Grid by Murphy Pipelines Limited. After obtaining the necessary consents, preliminary construction works began in spring 2007. Tunnelling has been taking place during 2008, and the majority of the pipeline will be built during 2009, when the project is due to be completed.