Plumber & drainage engineers in Bloomsbury

Bloomsbury is defined by its Georgian squares. Bedford Square, Russell Square, Gordon Square and Tavistock Square are lined with brick terraces built from the late eighteenth century onwards, most of them now listed. Those houses are used today as university departments, hotels, offices and flats, with the British Museum, University College London and several hospitals close by. The whole district sits within the London Borough of Camden, and much of it is covered by the Bloomsbury Conservation Area.

Georgian terraces bring a particular set of drainage issues. The original drains often run under the house from back to front, through the basement and out under the pavement to the sewer in the street. Many basements have been converted into separate flats, and where a basement toilet or kitchen sits below the level of the sewer, it relies on a pump or a non-return valve. When either fails, or when the old clay run cracks or blocks, the basement is the first place water appears.

Hotels and student accommodation add another layer. Large numbers of showers, toilets and kitchens feed into drains that were laid for single households, and blockages from wipes, hair and grease are frequent. We clear these with rods and high-pressure water jetting, then inspect with CCTV to check the condition of the pipe. Where a section is cracked or displaced, we look at no-dig relining first, which avoids lifting stone floors, front steps or pavement lights on a listed building.

Bloomsbury is easier to reach than Soho or Covent Garden, but it has its own constraints. Most streets have controlled parking and residents’ bays, the area is inside the Congestion Charge zone and ULEZ, and Euston Road along the northern edge is a red route. Our engineers sort out parking before they set off and carry equipment the short distance to the door. We work around the clock, so a call about a basement flood at 3am is handled just like one at midday.