Project Update 03/03/2026

Hi everyone,

Despite the exceptionally high rainfall across East Anglia in recent months and with January alone exceeding its average rainfall, our teams continue to make excellent progress on the water main upgrade. To help keep the project on schedule, we’re working on efficiencies by carrying out drilling and open-cut digging simultaneously, allowing us to maintain momentum across different sections of the route.

We’ve now installed 1,545m of 180mm pipe, including a complex 72m drill beneath the culvert, with a second drill completing today. We’ve also reinstated 246m of open‑cut trench and excavated a further 100m this week, keeping the project on target.

With recent feedback we have been queried on why these works can take time, to help understanding the complexity involved, including road closure restrictions, we are sharing the photos of our latest progress.

These photos help show the challenging ground conditions, the careful engineering involved, and the safety measures in place. They give a clearer picture of what’s happening on the ground, including:

• Challenging ground conditions and existing utilities we’re working around.

• Our drill rig in position completing the culvert drill shot.

• The new valve configuration ready for installation near the memorial.

• Sections of open‑cut trench that have been foam‑concreted and prepared for reinstatement.

• Steel plates being used to safely maintain driveway access.

• And the existing water main being replaced.

Thank you for your continued support as we deliver this essential upgrade.

As part of our ongoing works in the area, we remain committed to maintaining a safe, positive, and respectful environment for both our customers and our workforce.

Recently, our team has experienced instances of challenging interactions, including aggressive behaviour from members of the public, which is not acceptable. While we understand that essential works can be disruptive and frustrating, we kindly ask all members of the community to treat our on-site teams with courtesy and respect to ensure we can deliver this project with no delays to our proposed timeframe.

Our colleagues are working hard to deliver improvements that will benefit the whole community, and their safety and wellbeing are extremely important to us. We want to ensure they can carry out their duties without feeling unsafe or at risk.

We’re now eight weeks into our forty week programme, and we’re pleased to share that installation work is progressing well. We’ve shared new photos to help our community see the scale and complexity of the project, and to give a clearer understanding of why this type of essential work takes time and careful planning.

The team is working through challenging ground conditions with the wet weather and navigating around existing utilities, which requires caution and patience. We’ve also listened closely to community feedback and have introduced additional signage, increased updates on our online community hub, and are planning more community drop‑in events to understand how we can support you throughout the works.

To keep the project moving efficiently, we are also completing directional drilling and open‑cut excavation simultaneously, supported by extra resource on site.

Thank you for your continued cooperation and understanding as we complete these essential works.

The Project Team