Commercial Pipe Work
Professional pipe work for HVAC, heating and process systems.
What we offer
We deliver commercial-grade pipe work in steel, copper and stainless — welded, pressed or threaded — to the right standard for your application. Insulation, lagging and pressure testing all included.
Commercial pipework is a fabrication discipline, and the material decision is made circuit by circuit rather than building by building. Carbon steel to BS EN 10255 still carries most LTHW distribution and larger chilled water mains, with seamless steel to BS EN 10216 where diameters or pressures climb. Copper to BS EN 1057 suits smaller branches and plantroom detail work, and stainless earns its place on potable and process duties where corrosion or hygiene governs. Getting that choice wrong is disruptive to unpick once ceilings are closed and screeds are down.
How the joints are made is usually decided by the building rather than by preference. Welded steel gives the most robust result and the cleanest bore, but it needs hot works permits, a fire watch and genuine working space — often impossible above an occupied office or a live production line. Press-fit systems with EPDM or FKM seals remove the flame and shorten the programme, provided pipe ends are properly prepared and deburred, insertion depths are marked and witnessed, and the correct jaw is used. Threaded and grooved joints still suit plantroom headers and anywhere future dismantling is likely.
Sizing decides how the finished system behaves for the rest of its life. Run velocities too high and you get erosion at bends, audible flow through occupied rooms and pump energy squandered on friction; run them too low and dirt settles out while air refuses to be carried to the vents. Circuits are sized against the index run, with commissioning stations or pressure-independent valves where flows must be proved, and double-regulating and differential-pressure control fitted so the system can actually be balanced rather than merely filled.
Steel grows roughly a millimetre per metre for every hundred degrees of temperature rise, and copper around half as much again — on a long heating riser that is enough to shear a bracket or pull a branch out of line. Runs are set out with anchors and guides so movement goes where it was intended, using loops or bellows where the geometry demands. Support spacing follows pipe size and filled weight, dissimilar metals are separated to avoid galvanic attack, and compartment penetrations are firestopped to a tested detail rather than packed with foam.
Chilled and heating insulation are not the same job. On a chilled circuit the vapour barrier is the entire point: any break at a hanger, a valve body or a flange lets moist air reach a surface below dew point, and the result is a dripping ceiling plus corrosion under insulation that stays invisible until the pipe fails. Heating insulation is about thickness and continuity, with Part L and TIMSA guidance setting sensible targets for the pipe size and operating temperature. Identification and flow-direction marking to BS 1710 saves the next engineer guesswork.
Nothing goes into service untested. Circuits are hydraulically tested, held and monitored with an allowance for temperature drift, because a gauge falling on a cold morning is not automatically a leak. Once the test passes, the system is cleaned in line with BSRIA BG29 — an initial flush, a chemical stage where the installation warrants one, then dynamic flushing at velocities high enough to lift debris out of horizontal runs. Circuits are then dosed with inhibitor for the measured volume, glycol strength tested, and a sample taken to BS 8552 as a baseline.
- Carbon steel, copper and stainless installation
- Chilled water, LTHW and condenser circuits
- Welded, press-fit, threaded and grooved jointing
- Pressure testing and documented commissioning
- Flushing and chemical cleaning to BSRIA BG29
- Insulation, vapour sealing and BS 1710 identification
- Plantroom headers, risers and live tie-ins
Common questions
- Should we use press-fit or welded pipework?
- Both are legitimate and the building usually decides. Welding produces a very robust joint with an unobstructed bore, but it requires hot works permits, a fire watch and space to work safely. Press-fit is faster and flame-free, which often makes it the only sensible option above an occupied office or a live production area — provided pipe preparation, insertion depth and seal material suit the temperature and the fluid being carried.
- Why is our chilled water pipework dripping?
- Almost always a vapour barrier failure rather than a leak. Chilled pipework sits below dew point, so any break in the seal — a section crushed at a hanger, an uninsulated valve body, tape that has lifted at a joint — lets moist air reach the cold surface and condense. Left alone it causes corrosion under the insulation, so the fix is reinstating a continuous sealed barrier, not catching the water.
- Can you add a new branch without draining the whole system?
- Usually. Depending on the layout we can isolate a section using existing valves, freeze the pipe and cut in, or fit isolation now and complete the tie-in during a later planned window. Whichever route suits, break points are chosen so the smallest possible area loses service, and any drained section is vented and re-dosed with inhibitor on refill — the step most often skipped.
- How long does flushing a new system take?
- Longer than most programmes allow for, which is exactly why it gets squeezed. A BSRIA BG29 clean means an initial flush, a chemical stage where the installation warrants it, then dynamic flushing at velocities high enough to lift debris out of horizontal runs, with sampling to prove the result. On a typical commercial installation that is measured in days rather than hours, and skipping it shows up later as fouled heat exchangers.
- What pressure do you test to, and what do we get afterwards?
- Test pressure is set from the system's working pressure and the weakest component in the circuit — commonly one and a half times working pressure — held and monitored long enough to distinguish a genuine leak from ambient temperature drift. You receive a written record of test pressure, duration, temperatures and result, together with flushing, dosing and commissioning data for the operation and maintenance file.
- Do you handle the insulation and pipe labelling as well?
- Yes. Insulation, vapour sealing and identification are part of the pipework package rather than an afterthought handed to somebody else. That means correct thickness for the pipe size and duty, load-bearing inserts at supports so hangers do not crush the insulation, valve and flange bodies covered on chilled circuits, and identification with flow-direction marking to BS 1710 so future maintenance is not guesswork.
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Areas We Cover
Commercial Pipe Work across Newbury, Reading, Basingstoke, Oxford, London and the wider South of England — covering Berkshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, Dorset and Somerset.