Early Finish for Hexham Gas Scheme

A sensitive scheme to replace gas mains in a busy Northumberland street has finished almost two weeks ahead of schedule.

The £14,000 scheme in Battle Hill, Hexham, should have taken six weeks but finished on April 3 to the delight of local residents.

The essential scheme meant using traffic lights at the town’s busy Beaumont Street junction in order to renew about 130m of old metal gas mains.

Network Director for Northern Gas Networks’ Chris Gorman said engineers had pulled out all the stops to get work done quickly and reduce the inconvenience to local people and traders.

“Although our work is vital for the continued safety and reliability of gas supplies we do appreciate that it can be very disruptive. Our engineers have worked very hard and many people actually approached them to say thank you for a job well done when they were packing up on site,” he said.

The Hexham project was carried out and managed by Northern Gas Networks’ contract partner United Utilities who sent their brand new customer liaison officer Jackie Gibson to the town to give advice and support to traders.

Jackie also gave a safety talk to youngsters at St Mary’s School and arranged a £100 contribution to a music festival at Tynedale Community Church.