Lancefield
Blocked, burst or leaking in Lancefield?
Blocked drains, burst pipes and leaks in Lancefield, from the old main street frontages to the new residential precincts, passed to a licensed plumber day and night.
Plumbing in Lancefield
An old resort town and its planned new edges
The town boomed as a summer resort for Melburnians, and a number of intact nineteenth century buildings still shape the streetscape. Buildings of that age were plumbed before sewerage arrived, so old earthenware or cast iron joined to later connections is likely, and a camera before any repair often saves a dig.
A planning amendment applied a development plan overlay to three large residentially zoned areas in Lancefield, to the west, centre and east of town. Lots there get drains laid to an approved plan, so PVC is the norm, and the plan is checked for easements and the discharge point before a connection.
Town planning objectives ask new development to respect the original grid, with wider road reserves, use of soft engineering solutions and street trees like those in the older parts of town. In practice that often means open drains or swales instead of kerb outlets, so where a new stormwater line may discharge is confirmed first.
Jobs in Lancefield
Old frontages and new kerb levels
Gutters and downpipes
Spouting and downpipes on old shopfronts, matched to what is there.
Blocked drains
Old earthenware joined to newer connections behind the original buildings.
CCTV drain inspection
Finding where a property branch ties in after the mains were replaced.
What it costs: hot water replacement cost, gutter replacement cost, toilet installation cost
Lancefield questions
Kerb rebuilds, renewed mains and the heritage strip
Will rebuilt kerbs change a stormwater outlet?
They can. The council plans to rebuild part of the main street with new kerb and channel and roadside drainage improvements, a project still being designed. Property outlets to the kerb may need reconnecting, so the new kerb levels are checked before a stormwater line is relaid.
Who owns the sewer mains on the main routes out of town?
Greater Western Water, which has finished a major upgrade of the town's sewer network, replacing mains in stages and partly by trenchless methods. A blockage past the property connection goes to the corporation, and new tie-in points can be expected along those routes.
Does the heritage strip affect downpipes on old shopfronts?
It can. A conservation area along one side of the main street and across to the former Macedonia Hotel is on the Register of the National Estate. Visible downpipes, spouting and outside pipework there sit in a recognised heritage streetscape, so the planning scheme is checked for a permit before anything seen from the street changes.
