he NEC projects team asked us to quote to replace the isolating valves which feed the potable and firefighting pump sets. We were lucky enough to win the contract, but the timescales were tight as the firefighting set also feeds the water to the onsite hotels. The current 250mm and 400mm gate valves were heavily corroded stopping them from closing, this isn’t surprising since they are 50 years old! Before any work could commence an inspection for asbestos would need to be carried out. 

Unfortunately, out of the 22 flanges tested, 3 came back positive and 2 of them were the flanges we needed to take off. We manged to overcome this by skilful crane operators, LiftLtd from Leicester, who made it possible to move the valves without making any pipe modifications to the asbestos containing flanges. Once the older, much heavier valves were out we replaced them with new Tomoe butterfly valves with custom built 316 stainless steel spacers.