Installing a new water supply

[cjard]

I'm doing a conversion of a barn into a pair of semis, and the walls are rather thick. Having spent a long time making a hole in them for the electricity supply duct (that now has the electric supply for 2 houses installed in one trench/duct), I'd like to avoid bashing another hole elsewhere to bring the water in. The water co haven't really commented either way, but I understand that I'm responsible for the pipe to the property boundary anyway, so:

Can I dig another trench that meets the property where the electricity one does (the electric one runs at a 45 degree towards the road, the water would run straight toward the road), fit the relevant pipes, bring them through the wall next to where the electricity comes in and leave the other end poking up next to the road ready for the water board to install?

I've already had one call centre operative telling me that I can't lay the two water pipes for 2 houses in the same trench, which hopefully is a crock because I used to live in a block of 4 flats (barn conversion) where all water pipes came in in one trench (and all meters were installed in one garage - if he was out, noone got their meters read) - digging 2 identical trenches side by side for 2 water pipes seems pointless

 

[bernardgreen]

How deep are the foundations ( if there are any ) for the wall ?. It may be possible that you could run the water pipes under the wall without having to bore through it. Ypu would only then need to bridge over ( or conduit ) the pipes to protect them from any downward movement of parts of the wall.

 

[Madrab]

There's usually at least a 200mm gap between electrical cables and water/gas pipes but if both are protected within separate conduits then I would assume that common sense would prevail.
How about giving your building control a shout? They'll be the ones that need to pass it.

 

[cjard]

How deep are the foundations ( if there are any ) for the wall ?. It may be possible that you could run the water pipes under the wall without having to bore through it. Ypu would only then need to bridge over ( or conduit ) the pipes to protect them from any downward movement of parts of the wall.

Not sure on foundation depth, the electricity cable is in a 150mm red duct of its own and we probably went down 700mm to fit that.. That got us to the top of the foundations but I never exposed the bottom. The walls are stone outer, brick inner and about 450 thick, rising to over a metre thick near where the services come in by the front door. In other areas of the build the foundations have been exposed and vary in depth of strip but most were over 300mm. Going that deep would probably involve smashing quite a considerable hole in the lobby floor to give working room, no? I'll see if I can get some pics, might make it clearer what's going on

And I'll give the BI a shout, cheers

 

[cjard]

Here's the inside, there'd be enough room there to install a water pipe or 2, right?