A planned LV network refresh in Colchester town centre covered nine streets, with old paper-insulated cables and feeder pillars being replaced with new polymeric cable and modern distribution kit. The DNO awarded the cabling package on framework.
Town centre constraints — high pedestrian footfall, parked cars, conservation paving on three of the nine streets — meant a phased, careful programme.
What the job involved
- 2.4km of LV cable pulled across the nine streets in sequence.
- 26 service joints into customer connections, all under temporary supply.
- Nine new feeder pillars installed and energised.
- Block paving and conservation paving lifted and re-laid as appropriate per street.
- Daily DNO progress reports and weekly customer comms.
Key challenges
- On-street parking required TM coordination with parking enforcement.
- Three conservation streets had bespoke paving requirements — extra time built into programme.
- A customer-side fault on one street was discovered mid-programme — coordinated repair into the works.
Outcome
- Zero unplanned supply interruptions across the eight-week programme.
- All nine streets handed back to the council with conservation paving intact.
- DNO extended our framework allocation for the following financial year.
Nine streets, no complaints from the public, no supply interruptions. That's the cleanest town-centre cable refresh I've signed off in years.
— DNO Framework Manager, Colchester, Essex
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