Wigan set for gas pipe upgrade as firm invests £80m in the local network

Cadent, which manages the region’s gas network, will modernise around 420,000 metres of its North West pipeline over the next 12 months including more than 20,000 metres in Wigan.

The North West total is the same straight-line distance as Liverpool to Aberdeen. It is also the same length as around 4,000 football pitches, and the same height as more than 2,600 Blackpool Towers.

The £80m investment will be delivered by 600 skilled gas engineers.

They will be upgrading vital pipes to plastic to ensure a long-term safe network, as well as remain on track to replace fossil gas with greener alternatives, such as biomethane and hydrogen.

This change is essential to achieve local plans for meeting energy demands in ways that better protect the planet.

As part of its commitment to keeping customers safe and warm, every year Cadent replaces around 1.5 per cent of its 34,000km North West underground distribution system. These are mostly ageing metallic mains nearing the end of their safe operating lives.

The work is part of a bigger 30-year engineering programme, which is happening across the UK and is due to finish in 2032.

“More than 80 per cent of homes in the North West rely on gas for central heating and it’s our job to make sure they get it, safely and reliably, every minute of every day of the year,” said Head of Investment Planning Office (North West) Mark Syers, who leads the team delivering Cadent’s gas mains upgrade work in the region.

“As our older stock reaches the end of its safe working life, we must replace it. We’re also excited by the arrival soon of hydrogen to our networks, which is going to be essential to the North West achieving its targets to reduce carbon emissions.

“In most cases we’re able to insert the new pipe into the old one, a technique that reduces the time of each project and means we don’t have to dig as much.

“It also means an end to what often becomes increasingly-frequent visits – with associated disruption – to repair faults on the older metallic mains, as they start to show signs of age. We know it’s not ideal, but my team is determined to move as quickly as they safely can and get the work done with as little disruption as possible.”

By distance, the ‘top five’ workload areas for 2024-25 are: Wirral (45,793 metres), Manchester (24,697), Liverpool (24,287 metres), Sefton (21,656 metres), and Wigan (20,368 metres). You will find the figures for each of the North West’s local authority areas in the table below.

The full programme is listed at www.cadentgas.com/nw4