Commercial Gas Services in a Suffolk Market Town
Sudbury has been weaving silk for two centuries and still does, in mills that have been modernised many times. Around them, on the Chilton and Woodhall estates, are engineering firms, food producers, printers and distribution units, and the town centre has the pubs, restaurants and cafes of a busy market town on the Stour.
We install and alter commercial gas pipework, test and purge it, commission the plant it feeds, inspect installations each year and repair them when they fail. We work only on commercial and industrial systems, and we are Gas Safe registered under number 568617.
Mills, Estates and Market Town Trade
Mills and Manufacturers
Silk weaving, engineering and food production, with process heat, steam and space heating fed through pipework that has grown with the business.
The Industrial Estates
Chilton and Woodhall, where warm air and radiant heating and new supplies for plant are the usual jobs.
Pubs, Restaurants and Hotels
Market Hill, Friars Street and the villages around, many in listed timber framed buildings.
Schools, Care Homes and Public Buildings
Boiler plant and kitchens that need annual inspection and cannot be off for long.
Which Services Can We Help With in Sudbury?
Gas Installation
New and altered pipework in steel, copper and buried PE. See commercial gas installation.
Catering Gas
Kitchen pipework sized for the full appliance load, with the ventilation interlock BS 6173 calls for. See commercial catering.
Tightness Testing and Purging
Tightness testing to IGEM/UP/1 or IGEM/UP/1A, purging and written records. See gas testing and purging.
Certificates and Heating
Annual gas safety inspections, and heating for workshops, offices and hotels.
Decommissioning
Old process pipework traced, purged, capped and labelled rather than left in place.
Old Buildings and Listed Frontages
Sudbury and the villages around it, Long Melford and Lavenham among them, have a great many listed buildings, and a good number hold pubs, restaurants and shops. Fixing pipework or a flue terminal to a listed frontage, or cutting a new route through historic fabric, may need listed building consent. It is better to raise that at survey stage than after the design is fixed.
Timber framed buildings also need care in routing pipework and providing ventilation for kitchens and boilers.
Weaving Mills and Process Steam
Silk weaving is delicate work that still needs a good deal of energy. The mills raise steam for finishing and humidity control, heat large sheds full of looms, and run boilers that have been replaced more than once as the technology has moved on. Each generation of plant tends to leave a little of its pipework behind.
When a boiler is replaced or a new process is added, we start with a survey of what is actually there. Dead legs are traced back to a valve, isolated, purged and capped. The live pipework is tightness tested. The new plant is connected through pipework sized for its full load, with an isolation valve of its own so that it can be worked on without shutting down the mill.
The same approach applies to the engineering firms, printers and food producers on the Chilton estate, where a supply that has grown piece by piece over thirty years benefits from being looked at as a whole. The result is a system that is documented, sound and easier to change the next time the business grows, and a set of drawings that the next engineer can trust.
Why Market Town Businesses Choose Us
- We work only on commercial and industrial gas systems.
- We are Gas Safe registered, number 568617.
- We are available seven days a week, with 24/7 emergency cover.
- You receive written test and purge records after every job.
- Quotes are free and carry no obligation.
Gas Emergencies in South Suffolk
Smell gas? Call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999. If it is safe, shut the gas off at the emergency control valve and open doors and windows.
Our emergency engineers then attend at any hour to find the fault, repair it, and test and purge the pipework before gas goes back on.
Compliance, Babergh, the County and Cadent
Employers have a duty under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 to keep pipework and appliances safe, and an annual inspection is the accepted way of showing it.
Planning, including listed building consent, is handled by Babergh District Council. The highway authority is Suffolk County Council, so excavation in an adopted road or footway needs the county’s consent.
Cadent operates the gas distribution network in the East of England. It owns the mains and the service pipe up to the emergency control valve and deals with new supplies and disconnections, directly or through your supplier.
Around Sudbury: Postcodes and Nearby Towns
Sudbury has a Colchester postcode (CO10) despite being in Suffolk, and we cover the whole of it, including Long Melford, Great Cornard and Clare. We also cover Haverhill (CB9), Hadleigh (IP7), Bury St Edmunds (IP28 to IP33), Colchester (CO1 to CO7), Halstead (CO9) and Braintree (CM7).
We work across Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire and the rest of the UK, so a site outside these postcodes is still covered.
Booking a Visit to a Market Town
Call 08000 855 077 or send an enquiry. Tell us about the building, the appliances and what you need. Photographs of the meter and plant room help us quote accurately. Quotes are free and carry no obligation. If the building is listed, tell us, and we will allow for the consent question in the survey.
Get in Touch About Your Premises on the Stour
Manufacturers, publicans, restaurant owners, landlords and contractors across Sudbury and south Suffolk are welcome to call at any stage of a project.