Edinburgh Tram Project ...
Earlier this year Adien won its largest contract to date, awarded by Parsons
Brinckerhoff Ltd. Under the terms of the contract, Adien will detect and map the underground utilities on the route of the proposed Edinburgh Tram, a project to introduce a light rail system to Edinburgh. Our previous experience of working in highly congested urban areas enabled it to secure the contract, which has a value of £220,000.
The Scotsman newspaper reported the story as follows:
£220k to keep track of pipes
ALAN RODEN TRANSPORT REPORTER
A TEAM of experts has won a £220,000 contract to detect and map gas pipes and water mains beneath the route of the city's proposed tram network. The project, which is now under way, is designed to pinpoint pipes that must be moved to make way for the trams. Edinburgh's streets will be ripped up twice - once so that underground pipes and cables can be moved, then again for the tram rails to be laid. Doncaster-based company Adien will spend around four months scanning the city's roads to determine what lies underneath the surface. Utility works need to be moved because the foundations for tram tracks are buried around 50cm below the ground, while water, gas, electricity and communications companies require access for maintenance. If utility pipes remain in the path of the tram, passengers could face disruption, while burst mains would also cause serious problems.
Last autumn, Transport Initiatives Edinburgh (TIE), the council-owned firm behind the plans, struck a unique deal with utility companies to carry out all work at the same time. This will prevent Scottish Water, Scottish Gas and other businesses digging up the streets at different times. Nevertheless, residents and businesses face massive upheaval once the roadworks start in the autumn.
The workers from Adien will initially be mapping roads between Leith's Western Harbour and Edinburgh Airport, the route on which the city's first modern-day tram line is due to be up and running by 2010. They will also analyse another route from Haymarket to Granton, which TIE and the city council are confident can also be finished in four years' time, then the shelved parts of the network from the airport to Newbridge, and Granton to Leith.
A spokeswoman for TIE said: "In a UK first, the diversion of utilities will be co-ordinated centrally when constructing Edinburgh's tram network, to keep disruption to a minimum.
"An important part of this work is to detect and map the underground utilities accurately."
