Thames Water has stepped up its efforts to replace New Malden’s centuries-old water pipes.

The utility company is currently working on a £5.5m effort to replace pipes across the borough, with New Malden’s The Cut opened up on Friday afternoon to begin installing new plastic piping.

Burst water mains across London caused chaos over winter as temperatures plummeted, with many of the capital’s pipes more than 200 years old.

Project manager Ben Connis said: “For this project we carefully planned where we would excavate to keep disruption to The Cut and Coombe Road to a minimum while we rehabilitated these mains that pre-date the reign of Queen Victoria.”

“Modern techniques allow us to slide the new plastic pipes inside the old ones. This reduces the need to excavate large trenches and, as a result, improves safety while reducing cost.”

Secured in a large trench, a huge ‘pipe pusher’ is being used with its 100 tonnes of thrust to push new trunk main pipes through old Victorian ones.