Scottish Water has installed a major new water main that will improve services to more than 200,000 people with help from Marshalls Civils and Drainage and Keyline Builders Merchants.

The work carried out by Caledonia Water Alliance (CWA), Scottish Water’s alliance partner, saw the installation of a new drainage pipeline system beneath the Kilmarnock to Dumfries railway line, which was carried out without causing any disruption to rail services and ahead of schedule.

Due to the nature of the project, Caledonia Water required precast concrete drainage products that included bespoke cover slabs which were supplied by Marshalls Civils and Drainage who were able to manufacture the cover slabs to the customers’ requirements of non-standard access holes via Glasgow based civils supplier, Keyline.

Work to install the new water main uncovered sections of a 2000 year old Roman wall which was part of the famous Roman settlement of Trimontium, which was established from 80 to 211AD. In order to preserve the walls and to adhere to Scottish Planning Policy and Historic Environment Scotland, CWA had to construct a 5 metre wide by 1.6km long stone haul road to allow for machinery access to the site without disturbing and damaging the archaeology underneath.