A New Era Begins at Insituform Technologies Ltd.

Insituform Technologies Ltd (ITL)  recently announced that it has recently completed its corporate relocation from the now-closed Ossett site in West Yorkshire to the new Wellingborough offices and manufacturing facility in Northamptonshire, United Kingdom.

According to ITL managing director Mark Bates, “This new site at Wellingborough will be the launch of a whole new era for the company, not just in the U.K. but across Europe.”

While the company will continue to offer its full contracting and services operations across the United Kingdom as before, the new Wellingborough site has been designed to enable ITL to offer a much broader range of liner manufacturing and preparation capability. This includes a new state-of-the-art liner impregnation (wet-out) facility to ensure that prepared liners leaving the site conform to the highest possible standards before delivery to the worksite.

As well as the existing range of standard Insituform needle felt liners, reinforced iPlus liners etc., for which the company is world famous, the new production facility also includes a new production line for the manufacture of the new Insituform iPlus Glass liner.

The iPlus Glass liner is a new glass-fiber-reinforced liner material that, when used with the relevant resins, will be able to be installed using either steam or UV (Ultra Violet) curing options. UV cure will be available in 2012.

Designed for the rehabilitation of pipes from 150 mm to 1,200 mm in diameter, the new iPlus Glass liners will require less resin than standard materials and will have higher strength properties than standard materials. This results in a thinner walled liner tube when compared to standard liners.

The iPlus Glass liners are installed using the pull-in/inflate/cure technique and thereby offer a process that can mean less waste material, a smaller site footprint, less disruption than even standard installations, less emissions from the cure process and ultimately less carbon emissions.

With the new manufacturing facility now operating, liner tubes are being manufactured for not only the UK market but also those across Europe, with 1.6 m diameter liners currently being prepared for export to Russia.

Commenting on the changes that have recently been completed at ITL, business development manager John Beech said: “While some of the changes we have made have not been easy, we have hit the ground running and the company is now in a position to further expand its influence and expertise in the CIPP lining markets across both the U.K. and Europe. Our new facilities, with the addition of both steam and UV-cure technologies, also means that we can now address virtually any rehabilitation challenge that clients, both old and new, can throw at us both as a manufacturer and as a contractor. The new liner design and manufacturing facility, our strong contracting team and over 40 years experience in the field enables ITL to continue to grow from strength to strength in its position as one of the most recognized names in the U.K., European and global pipeline rehabilitation sector.”