Commercial Gas Installation, Testing and Purging in Liverpool

Commercial property in Liverpool and the gas work it needs

Converted warehouses and listed buildings

Thick walls, cast iron columns and protected frontages limit where pipes, flues and meter housings can go. On a listed building, external changes usually need listed building consent from the council's planning service before work starts.

Inside, pipework often runs a long way from the meter to the plant room. Longer runs mean a larger volume to test and purge, so the method has to be planned properly.

Hotels, bars and restaurants

The waterfront, Bold Street, Castle Street and the Ropewalks have a dense mix of kitchens. Most projects we see are fit-outs, changes of tenant and appliance upgrades.

Each one needs the pipework tightness tested, purged and commissioned, along with checks on ventilation and the gas interlock. Our commercial catering team handles this.

Hospitals, universities and research buildings

The Knowledge Quarter brings together the universities, the main hospital and a growing number of laboratory buildings. Boiler houses and site mains on these campuses are tested in planned phases so heating and hot water are not lost.

Port, logistics and manufacturing

The docks at Seaforth and Bootle, the business parks in Speke and Garston, and Knowsley Industrial Park are the main industrial areas. Systems here include warehouse heaters, process ovens, steam boilers and paint or drying lines.

We install and service commercial heating systems and the pipework feeding them.

Stadiums and venues

Large venues have several kitchens and plant rooms fed from one incoming supply. Clear isolation points and accurate pipework records matter, because work often has to be finished between fixtures or events.

How does gas purging work?

Purging is the controlled replacement of whatever is inside a gas pipe.

When new pipework is brought into use, it is full of air. That air has to be pushed out and replaced with gas before any appliance is lit. This is part of gas commissioning.

When pipework is taken out of use, the gas is pushed out and replaced with air or nitrogen. This is gas decommissioning.

On small pipework the purge is done directly. On larger systems, nitrogen purging is used as a barrier so gas and air cannot form a flammable mixture inside the pipe. The purge is vented outdoors to a safe location and checked with a gas detector.

Our engineers follow IGEM/UP/1 or IGEM/UP/1A, depending on the size of the system. More detail is on our gas testing and gas purging page.

Tightness testing and gas safety testing

A tightness test shows whether pipework is leaking. The section is isolated, pressurised and monitored with a calibrated gauge for a set period. Any drop outside the permitted limit means there is a leak to find.

Landlords and agents in Liverpool often ask for one before a new lease starts. You are likely to need one:

• When new commercial gas pipework has been installed
• After pipework has been altered or repaired
• Following a gas escape or a reported smell of gas
• Before gas is turned back on to a building that has stood empty
• When a commercial gas certificate is being issued

Employers have a legal duty under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations to keep gas appliances, pipework and flues at work in a safe condition. Regular testing and servicing is the usual way to show this is being done.

New installations and alterations

We install steel, copper and polyethylene pipework for commercial premises in Liverpool, to IGEM/UP/2. Typical jobs include new boiler plant, supplies to additional kitchen appliances, and buried pipework between buildings.

For supplies that run below ground, see our underground gas pipework page.

Street works, permits and the gas network

If excavation is limited to private land, no highway permit is needed. A utility search and ground scan should still be done first. Older dock and industrial land can contain abandoned services that do not appear on any drawing.

Where a trench crosses a public road or footway within the city, Liverpool City Council is the highway authority. A street works permit or a section 50 licence is normally required. Sites in Bootle and Crosby fall under Sefton Council, and Kirkby, Huyton and Halewood come under Knowsley Council.

The Mersey tunnels are run by the city region's transport body, and the motorways are managed by National Highways.

The gas network across Merseyside is operated by Cadent. New connections, supply upgrades and meter work are arranged with Cadent or through your supplier. Our work begins at the outlet of the meter.

If you smell gas at any time, call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999.

Repairs and emergency call-outs

Once the emergency service has made a site safe, the supply usually stays off until the fault on your own pipework has been fixed. We carry out emergency gas repairs for commercial premises across Liverpool, then retest and purge so gas can be restored.

Do we only cover the city itself?

No. Gas Main Installation covers all Liverpool postcodes, from L1 and L2 in the centre to Speke, Aintree, Croxteth and Woolton.

We also work across the wider area. That includes Bootle, Crosby, Kirkby, Huyton and Prescot, Birkenhead and Wallasey on the Wirral in the CH postcodes, and St Helens, Widnes and Runcorn in the WA postcodes. Southport, Ormskirk and Warrington are covered as well.

As a UK-wide service, we can support clients who have sites in several regions.