Working as 'partnering suppliers' with AMEC and Laing O'Rourke, both main contractors on the massive Heathrow Terminal 5 project, Polypipe Civils supplied over £250,000 worth of their Ridgduct and Ridgidrain products in the first 12 months of the contract. The company's Technical Design Department produced a variation to the standard Ridgiduct design for AMEC, backed by CAD drawings for approval by the T5 engineers, specifically for the work in hand.

The modification was made in 10 kilometres of 150mm Ridgiduct ducting for the air-side road tunnel manufactured with couplers every 12 metres instead of the usual six metres. This effectively halved the cost of coupling and providing a material saving in addition to a significant reduction in labour costs due to the increased speed of installation. On large scale contracts like Heathrow's Terminal 5 where even small savings per metre become magnified by large runs, such close interaction between suppliers and contractors can prove extremely fruitful.

10th February 2004