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Major water mains upgrade for Windermere in the pipeline

01 Dec 2025

A project to upgrade water mains in Windermere is set to get underway in January.

United Utilities is investing around £500,000 to upgrade just over 1.1km of water mains along a section of Lake Road.

Paul Forshaw, United Utilities’ County Business lead for Water in Cumbria explained: “This is a major scheme to upgrade the water mains running through Windermere. We’re replacing old mains with more durable, flexible pipework which will improve the resilience and reliability of the drinking water network by helping minimise the risk of bursts and leaks.” 

The project is part of United Utilities’ region-wide £380m programme to improve more than 925km of mains during the next five years – more than 200km of these are in Cumbria.

Paul Forshaw added: “We know these works can be disruptive and we are working closely with our delivery partner, M Group, to keep this to a minimum. To help with this we are planning to use a technique called slip-lining as much as possible. This is where new pipeline is inserted into the existing water main to minimises the need for digging large trenches and road closures.

“We have planned the work to start in January to avoid the peak holiday and tourism season.”            

The project will get underway on 12th January and is expected to take up to 12 weeks to complete. Work will be carried out along a section of Lake Road between St Herbert’s Church and the junction with Beresford Road. As water mains are located in each side of the road both will be upgraded, one side at a time. This avoids the needs for a road closure and significant diversion.

Prior to works starting, site investigations will be carried out during the second week of December between the 8th and 12th December to confirm the exact location, material and size of the main. Temporary traffic lights will be in use while this is carried out.

United Utilities is contacting customers in the area to let them know about the works. Details are also available in the Windermere information centre at 8 Crescent Road, LA23 1EA.