SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

It's several months since I was last in the York Street area near Marsh Lane so being near on August 14 2018 I went to have a look. I was surprised to see there is pipework going on behind the Leeds Playhouse and the still being built college, then going on to Brick Street to Crown Point Road. I don't know what the pipes will carry but the pipework would seem to be connected with the major construction work in the area. These are 3 photos I took on August 14 2018. The first is a view on Brick Street looking towards Crown Point Road (I think it is not yet Marsh Lane there). The second is a view from St Peter's Place area looking towards York Street. The third view is also from the St Peter's Place area and caught my eye because of the very sharp bend in the pipework which seemed odd (the man working there did not mind me taking the photo). It was not until I downloaded the photo that I noticed the sharp bend may be due to the object on the right that may have been too hard or unsafe to remove so the pipe was presumably built round it! (it is just visible to the top of the second photo).

Edit added just after posting. What I have called St Peter's Place may be St Cecilia's Street. It can be confusing around there!

this layout is often used in large diameter pipework, it is an expansion loop. It allows the pipes to expand due to increase in temperature/pressure without causing a fracture.
If the top of the manhole could not be moved, it seems odd to aim the pipes directly at it?
just a theory?

warringtonrhino wrote:this layout is often used in large diameter pipework, it is an expansion loop. It allows the pipes to expand due to increase in temperature/pressure without causing a fracture.
If the top of the manhole could not be moved, it seems odd to aim the pipes directly at it?
just a theory?

Thanks warringtonrhino for that interesting information .

the pipework layout is similar to an expansion loop, but they are only used when the pipelines are several miles long.
It is unlikely that these pipes would expand sufficiently to warrant an expansion loop.
The four right angle bends are expensive, I cannot think why they didn't route the pipes so that bends were not required.
If the pipeline designers fees are related to the cost of the project, they might have done it simply to boost their fees

The bottom photo of the 3 suggests to me that the large pipes are being diverted to avoid an existing drainage chamber.

If the manhole has always been there, surely a better way to avoid it would have been to lay the new pipes to one side of it.
Why make it easy when there's a perfectly hard way of doing it?

You would imagine that a thorough survey had been undertaken and the route with fewest obstructions chosen.
When you think about it,the roads are festooned with drainage,sewage,water,gas,electric and telecoms ironwork.Have I missed any?(:
The rest of the installation seems to be a straight run.

unslet wrote:You would imagine that a thorough survey had been undertaken and the route with fewest obstructions chosen.
When you think about it,the roads are festooned with drainage,sewage,water,gas,electric and telecoms ironwork.Have I missed any?(:
The rest of the installation seems to be a straight run.

Does anyone know, from the colour and size of the pipes for example, what these pipes will be carrying?
I am familiar with expansion loops used for steam distribution on industrial sites but these are always above ground not buried. If an expansion loop is buried its movement would be restricted - rather defeating the object.
Therefore I'm inclined to agree that this loop is just avoiding the obstacle.

They are 500mm diameter district heating pipes.

Vitalenergi.co.uk
The
Leeds PIPES project.

Heat from the incinerator will be used to provide heating and hot water for council housing and
business premise within reach.
£35 million pound is the more than modest cost.

All it has done so far is cause horrendous traffic congestion due to road closures.

20 minutes to get from Stanley Road to St James main gate - 400 yards?