More work in the pipeline as family company completes record contract

The family-owned business won the 1.8m order from Morgan Est to design, make, supply, coat and install mild steel pump suction and discharge pipework at a new transfer shaft pump station at Thames Water's Coppermills Water Treatment Works in London.

The scheme is part of an extension to the London Ring Main, a 50-mile water tunnel that forms a complete ring around the capital.

Powerrun did the work at its 10,000 sq ft fabrication facility in Keighley, manufacturing pipework of 1800mm, 1400mm and 900mm diameter. This was then installed on-site in a 30-metre deep pump shaft.

Powerrun, founded in the early 1990s, has been increasingly successful in recent years. Turnover in 2007 was 2.1m, growing to 2.9, in 2008 and hitting 4m last year.

The company was founded to service the privatised UK water and sewage treatment sector. As well as pipework systems, it also makes process tanks and vessels, structural steelwork and other one-off bespoke fabrications.

"We're well established and have been going for 20 years and have a good reputation and turn out a good product," said sales director Paul Moore. "The future looks promising. We had an exceptional year last year."

The company employs 25 staff and Mr Moore said its site is operating at full capacity for the next six weeks. Its products are used for both sewage and drinking water.

It has just won a 440,000 order from Carillion to extend Abberton Reservoir, near Colchester.

"We're not necessarily recession-proof but it (the water sector) is not subject to the same impact that has hit other industries because it is legislation-driven," said Mr Moore.

The Ring Main, which was completed in 1994, was designed to improve the speed and efficiency of transferring supplies of drinking water across London.

With an average diameter of 2.5 metres, it can carry more than 1,300 million litres of water each day – enough to fill the Royal Albert Hall eight times.

Work on the northern extension to the London Ring Main started in September 2007 and tunnelling work was completed in May 2009. The tunnel was lined with steel and concrete and connected into the Ring Main and ready for service in March.

The northern extension tunnel is 2.8 miles long and roughly 45 metres below the surface – well below service pipes, cables and the London Underground.

The extensions to the north and south of the River Thames were needed to help Thames Water keep up with growing demand, significantly boosting its ability to transfer larger volumes of water across a wider area.