David Plumb deals with the unexpected

David Plumb & Co had to deal with the unexpected when it helped Wrekin Construction transform a former boiler heating oil underground tank at RAF Lakenheath into a modern above ground tank installation.

David Plumb & Co was contracted to safely open up, clean, excavate and remove two 12,000 gallon below ground diesel tanks, with dimensions of 10m long by 3m in diameter.

“However,” says David Plumb & Co director, Nigel Plumb, “we never really know what we are going to be facing until we start digging. So, instead of the 12,000 gallon tanks that everyone thought were down there, we discovered two 17,000 gallon tanks – a size that none of us, in our long experience, had ever come across before. They must have been made especially for the RAF.

“They were also equipped with heating coils, so we suspect they were used for black oil storage at some point in their history.”

The main problem with the new tanks was that they were 1½m shorter, but 1m larger in diameter.

“This meant we had to widen the excavation considerably,” says Nigel,” and go just over a metre deeper. That may not sound much, but we had to call in a larger excavator with a much longer reach.”

The company also had to organise much larger transport and obtain a wide load movement notice.

Says David Stevens, of Wrekin Construction: “The works were undertaken with the usual Plumb efficiency.“

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