Pipe Relining Sydney’s Heritage & Vintage Properties

If you own or manage a heritage-listed or vintage property, pipe relining should be on your radar should anything happen to your plumbing. In this article we talk about:

• Sydney’s ever-increasing number of heritage buildings. 
• Avoiding damage is imperative yet difficult with old-school methods
• Pipe relining avoids much of the risk. 
• Whilst limiting disruption and ultimately – cost. 

Pipe relining is unlikely to be the first thing that springs to mind when you think of Sydney’s famous skyline and beachside suburbs, and rightly so. But Sydney’s streets are getting older and their plumbing more and more susceptible to faults and defects by the day. 

The number of heritage-listed properties is naturally on the increase, which along with the many “vintage” homes (likely to be heritage listed in the future) creates an increasingly complex task for those in the construction, maintenance, and building management industries whose duty it is to effectively renovate and rehabilitate in and around these properties. Not to mention the owners who typically get lumped with the heritage premium bill. 

Prominent examples include The Sandstones situated on Bridge Street in the heart of the CBD, which is currently undergoing a large-scale renovation, and the stroves of Victorian terraces that litter our history-rich suburbs such as Surry Hills, Redfern, and The Rocks. 

Unfortunately, in spite of their unique features and timeless beauty, many heritage buildings suffer from generations of poorly planned and ill-conceived renovations along with an inevitable and unavoidable decay of materials. 

Pipe relining is unlikely to be the first thing that springs to mind when you think of Sydney’s famous skyline and beachside suburbs, and rightly so. But Sydney’s streets are getting older and their plumbing more and more susceptible to faults and defects by the day. 

The number of heritage-listed properties is naturally on the increase, which along with the many “vintage” homes (likely to be heritage listed in the future) creates an increasingly complex task for those in the construction, maintenance, and building management industries whose duty it is to effectively renovate and rehabilitate in and around these properties. Not to mention the owners who typically get lumped with the heritage premium bill. 

Prominent examples include the The Sandstones situated on Bridge Street in the heart of the CBD, which is currently undergoing a large-scale renovation, and the stories of Victorian terraces that litter our history-rich suburbs such as Surry Hills, Redfern, and The Rocks. 

Unfortunately, in spite of their unique features and timeless beauty, many heritage buildings suffer from generations of poorly planned and ill-conceived renovations along with an inevitable and unavoidable decay of materials. 

An early century church building in Bexley. 

This is particularly problematic when it comes to their plumbing, including stormwater, waste, and soil drains, which not only become vulnerable due to the delicate terracotta pipe work but difficult to reach with traditional dig and replace methods due to the fragility of the building’s foundations.

Quite often when working on properties that are entirely or partially (such as exterior walls and facades) heritage listed, simple excavations are simply not possible due to:

• The risk of heavy machinery on-site. 
• The potential of ground movement or subsidence to cause more damage.
• Limited or restricted access to the damaged area.

Fortunately, pipe relining easily avoids all three issues.

Whilst undertaking pipe relining projects at heritage-listed properties do require an extra dose of care and attention, the technology and methods that we utilise mean that pipe relining naturally avoids the issues faced by using a dig and replace approach, along with all of the usual benefits that relining provides including savings on cost, time and disruption. 

We don’t excavate – relining naturally avoids excavation – it’s kind of the point. So whether we’re working on a 120-year-old terrace or in the grounds of one of Sydney’s prestigious universities, it simply isn’t an issue.

• We’re light on our feet – due to the lack of excavation and the precision of our technology, we don’t need to operate heavy machinery anywhere near the site. Allowing us to reduce the risk and provide peace of mind from start to finish.
• We only need one access point – depending on the pipe relining technique we employ, we only need one access point either up or downstream of the affected area, allowing us to work from a safe distance and avoid disturbing the property. 

“The Anaconda” – Tree roots removed from a stormwater frain at Sydney Uni’s Wesley College in 2020.

A single access point.

Avoiding damage is always priority number one for owners and managers, regardless of the property’s age. But where heritage and vintage properties are concerned, an extra layer of risk inevitably exists. Pipe relining reduces the risk of damage to heritage features by removing the necessity to excavate and use heavy machinery – whilst saving you time and money. 

In our minds, pipe relining is always preferred to traditional methods. But where heritage and vintage buildings are concerned, it really is a no-brainer.

Want to know more? Contact the team at Sydney Relining