Investing in your gas supply

Old TownEdinburgh

Our essential work involves replacing old metal pipework, which is around 120 years old, with modern plastic pipe. This will ensure a continued safe and reliable gas supply for the local community for many years to come. The modern plastic pipe has a minimum lifespan of around 80 years.

Following consultation with the local authority, Police Scotland, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and local bus companies, our work will start on Monday 20 March and take approximately 28 weeks.

We’ll do everything we can to minimise disruption. At times during our work there will be some diversions and road closures in place, however, our work has been planned to be carried out in phases, and around high profile events which take place in the area, to minimise inconvenience and keep traffic flowing.

Our work will continue during the Edinburgh Festival and Fringe. We will be working away from the main festival area during this time.

Pedestrian access will be maintained at all times.

All businesses in the local area will remain open as usual. We do have a compensation scheme in place for small businesses which suffer a genuine loss of trade because of our work. Packs are available from our website, sgn.co.uk, via the Publications section.

All being well, our work should be completed in October.

If you have any enquiries about this project, please call us on 0131 469 1728 during office hours (9am to 5pm) or on 0800 912 1700 outwith these times.

You’ll find further details, such as where we’ll be working, overleaf.

To explain more about our work we are holding a drop-in session at the Radisson Blu Hotel, 80 High Street, The Royal Mile, Edinburgh, EH1 1TH, on Wednesday 15 March between 4pm and 7.30pm. Please feel welcome to drop in to speak to us if you have any questions about this project.

We will soon be starting work in Edinburgh’s Old Town to upgrade our gas network in the High Street, Blackfriars Street, Cowgate, Holyrood Road and St John Street.

To access this leaflet in an alternative format please call 0800 912 1700

Our work is planned to take place in phases to ensure traffic can flow around our work area, with the minimum disruption possible. Each phase will usually start as the previous phase finishes, however, there will be certain points during the project where we will be working in two locations at the same time. Advance notice signage will be put in place before our work starts in each location.

During the phases of our work, the diversions shown on the following pages will be in place.

KeyPhase 1:Phase 2: Phase 3: Phase 4: Phase 5:Phase 6: Phase 7:Phase 8:

Where is the work taking place?

We are sorry about any

inconvenience our work causes and would like to thank

road users and residents for their patience. This is a complex

engineering project, however we always aim to minimise

disruption whenever possible.

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Phase 1 Road closure in High Street and Blackfriars Street

Diversion• St Mary’s Street/Pleasance/

West Richmond Street/South Bridge, and reverse

• Blackfriars Street Traffic will enter and exit Blackfriars Street from Cowgate

1Smell gas? 0800 912 1700

KeyWork area:Diversion:

Bus routesDuring the High Street road closure Lothian bus service 35 will be diverted via Regent Road and North Bridge — stops in Abbeymount, Canongate and High Street will be missed out.

To access this leaflet in an alternative format please call 0800 912 1700

Phase 3 Closure of Holyrood Road between Pleasance and Viewcraig Gardens

Diversion• St Mary’s Street/The Royal

Mile/Canongate/Horse Wynd/Queen’s Drive/Holyrood Gait, and reverse

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Phase 2

No diversionTemporary traffic lights in place when required2

KeyWork area:

KeyWork area:Diversion:

Bus routesDuring the Holyrood Road closure Lothian bus service 6 will be diverted via Canongate — stops in St Mary’s Street and Holyrood Road will be missed out.

Smell gas? 0800 912 1700

Phase 4

Diversions• Cowgate will be a one-way system — westbound side of road closed • St Mary’s Street — Canongate/Horse Wynd/Queen’s Drive/Holyrood Gait/

Holyrood Road• St Mary’s Street for Cowgate — High Street/South Bridge/Chambers Street/ Bristol Place/Forrest Road/Candlemaker Row• St Mary’s Street for Holyrood Road and Pleasance — The Royal Mile/ Canongate/Horse Wynd/Queen’s Drive/Holyrood Gait/Holyrood Road • Dalkeith Road (city bound) — Dalkeith Road/East Preston Street/South

Clerk Street (A7)/Nicolson Street/South Bridge/Blair Street• Pleasance — Cowgate/West Richmond Street/Nicolson Street/

South Bridge/Blair Street

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KeyWork area:

Diversion 1:Diversion 2:Diversion 3:Diversion 4:Diversion 5:Diversion 6:

Phase 5

Diversion• High Street/St Mary’s Street/Cowgate, and reverse• Westbound — Pleasance/West Richmond Street/Richmond Place/

West Adam Street/East Adam Street/Pleasance/St Mary’s Street/High Street (only when the Cowgate is closed westbound from Holyrood Road)

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To access this leaflet in an alternative format please call 0800 912 1700

KeyWork area:Diversion:

Phase 6 Westbound road closure

Diversion• Northbound — St Mary’s Street/High Street/South Bridge/ Chambers Street/Bristol Place/Forrest Road/Candlemaker Row• Southbound — Pleasance/West Richmond Street/South Bridge/

Chambers Street/Bristol Place/Forrest Road/Candlemaker Row

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Smell gas? 0800 912 1700

KeyWork area:Diversion:

Phase 7 Closure of Holyrood Road between St John Street and Viewcraig Gardens

Diversion• St Mary’s Street/The Royal

Mile/Canongate/Horse Wynd/Queen’s Drive/Holyrood Gait, and reverse

7W

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To access this leaflet in an alternative format please call 0800 912 1700

KeyWork area:Diversion:

Bus routesDuring the Holyrood Road closure Lothian bus service 6 will be diverted via Canongate — stops in St Mary’s Street and Holyrood Road will be missed out.

Phase 8 Closure in High Street and Blackfriars Street

Diversion• St Mary’s Street/Pleasance/

West Richmond Street/ South Bridge, and reverse

• Traffic will enter and exit Blackfriars Street from Cowgate

8Smell gas? 0800 912 1700

WEST R

ICHMOND STREET

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STREET

ST LEONARD’S STREET

EAST PRESTON STREET

DALKEITH ROAD

COWGATE

CHAMBERS STREET

BRISTOL PLACE

FOR

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CANDLEMAKER ROW

KeyWork area:Diversion:

Bus routesDuring the High Street road closure Lothian bus service 35 will be diverted via Regent Road and North Bridge — stops in Abbeymount, Canongate and High Street will be missed out.

Due to the size of the pipes we are laying we need to dig large, deep excavations.

There are also many other pipes and cables in the street belonging to other utilities.

This means our work takes some time to complete as we need to dig through the surface of the road and layers below, and safely work our way around the other utilities’ equipment.

Due to the nature of the work, the size and weight of the pipes, the heavy plant and machinery which is used, along with necessary safety protection zones, we need a certain amount of space in which to work.

When we are working in historic areas such as Edinburgh’s Old Town we employ an archaeologist to observe our excavations every step of the way and ensure any features and artefacts are archaeologically recorded. This is a requirement outlined by the City of Edinburgh Council’s Archaeology Service (CECAS).

Our excavations in the areas we are working could potentially reveal items and structures of archaeological importance. As we dig, the soil around our gas mains pipe will be carefully removed with the supervision of the archaeologist. The soil will then be analysed and any small items of archaeological significance removed. The results will then be assessed by a wide range of specialists — from historians and environmental scientists, to experts in ceramics and animal bones.

The five main areas of archaeological interest are:

Blackfriars Street which was originally only around one third of the width it is now. Heading downhill from the Royal Mile it’s likely that the right hand side of the street was the original boundary of the road. There was a major fire at one point which led to most of the left hand side of Blackfriars Street being razed to the ground. The left hand side of the street was rebuilt in the 1860s. Wooden houses were replaced by stone buildings so fire couldn’t spread again.

The new houses in Blackfriars Street replaced once high status 16th Century properties which became notorious slums in the 19th Century.

Cardinal Beaton’s house which sat at the bottom of Blackfriars Street at its junction with the Cowgate. This would

have been a very grand building in its day. The Cardinal was a key political figure in the mid 16th Century.

A stream once ran along the Cowgate. This was where the waste from Blackfriars Street flowed. The soil here is likely to be very waterlogged, meaning there is potential for preserved items like leather, wood, coins, animal bones, and pottery to be located here.

At the junction of the Pleasance with the Cowgate there was once a large, grand entrance gate to the city.

During the Renaissance period wealthy people built mansions around the Holyrood Road area, as they wanted to be next to the Abbey (where Holyrood Palace now sits), which would have been the most grand building of the day, with the exception of Edinburgh Castle. In addition to their houses, they built gardens — these incorporated elaborate designs such as the saltire which were marked out using stone or gravel.

Your questions answered...

Q. Why are you doing this work now? A. We need to replace these old gas mains

and while there is no ideal time to carry out the work, the timescales have been agreed with the local council and other interested parties. Our work will take approximately 28 weeks to complete.

Q. How will it affect my local area and travel? A. Sometimes we need to use temporary

traffic lights or close a road to keep the public and our engineers safe while the work is taking place. We’ll always provide advance notification if this is the case.

As the local authority always looks to co-ordinate planned roadworks wherever possible, we need their permission to close roads. If our work affects local bus services, this will be advertised in advance too.

Q. How else might I be affected? A. Some on-street parking in your road may

be restricted to ensure certain stages of our work can be completed safely. We’ll let you know when this is necessary, as your co-operation in keeping sections of the road clear helps keep our work on schedule.

We may need to take up space in the road or on the verge for a site storage area for our equipment. We’ll restore any areas we’ve disturbed as quickly as possible after the project is finished. We’ll also make good all road surfaces, pavements and driveways.

Q. Why are you taking so much room? A. The existing 30 inch diameter pipe is

being replaced with a 630mm diameter pipe. The track required for this pipe could be as deep as 2.5m and 1.5m wide. Heavy machinery including 8 tonne excavators, dumper trucks, pipe (12m lengths), team vehicles and Hiab lorries will need to be able to access our site.

Q. How can I find out more about the work and how it might affect me?

A. We’ll do our best to keep customers informed. After all, the work we are planning is for your safety. We have our established channels, including our website and social media, as well as press releases for local media, update flyers and leaflets such as this one. We would welcome any ideas about other ways we can communicate with you to help raise awareness of what we’re doing, such as details of community Facebook pages and independent websites, to which we can supply updates as the work progresses. Please email any suggestions to customer@sgn.co.uk. If you would like to speak to us in person, please join us at the Radisson Blu Hotel, 80 High Street, The Royal Mile, Edinburgh, EH1 1TH, on Wednesday 15 March, any time between 4pm and 7.30pm.

You may already know us as Scotland Gas Networks but we’ve changed our name, logo and branding to SGN. We’re still the same company and our local experts are still committed to delivering your gas reliably and keep you safe.

Every year we give our people a day on company time to team up and work on community projects of their own choice. We are always looking for other projects to complete so if you have any suggestions for your community please call Julie Lowrey on 01689 881 481.