Flexenergy is seeing growing demand for pre-insulated pipe fabrication services that enable contractors to reduce onsite materials storage and speed up the installation of water distribution networks.

Flexenergy is one of the UK’s leading suppliers of polybutene pipe for heating and hot and chilled water distribution systems and has noticed an upturn in contractors requesting the pre-fabrication of district heating scheme network elements to enhance construction efficiency based on ‘just-in-time’ principles.

The service ensures that Flexenergy’s Flexalen pipe is fabricated exactly to specification before it leaves the company’s premises, including fusion welding complex designs covering flow and return risers, multi-directional pipe sections, coiled pipe connected with building entry elbows and zonal control sections fitted with pre-insulated V-Flex valves.

Barratt London selected a number of pre-fabricated components for a new District Heating Network installed to service 164 new homes being built in Camden Road, London. A complex building layout and a constrained site presented the project team with multiple challenges, but Flexenergy was able to respond to customer requirements through the timely supply of pipe and bespoke, prefabricated sections.

As Sandy Fairley, Sales Director at Flexenergy explains: “The flexibility of pre-fabricated pipe helped to speed up the installation process and allowed for a reduction in the amount of on-site jointing required. In addition, the use of fusion welding enabled the pipework to be moved around the site without fear of joints breaking or leaking once buried in the ground.”

The Camden Road project was also the first project to use Flexenergy’s V-Flex valve system, which transforms the ability of operators to control and service polybutene networks by delivering zonal control via pre-insulated valve technology that can be fusion welded directly to the main network.