Leak Detection in City of London

Leak detection across the City of London covers EC1, EC2, EC3 and EC4, taking in Bank, Liverpool Street, Cheapside, Barbican, Smithfield, Aldgate, Moorgate and Fleet Street. The Square Mile is dominated by commercial office stock with booster-pumped supply, but the Barbican residential estate, modern apartments around Aldgate, and period buildings around Smithfield and Fleet Street produce a steady flow of residential and mixed-use leak work. Thames Water hard supply with commercial-grade pressure profiles means scale loading and pressure-spike failures both feature in the failure pattern.

Managed-building access protocols come first: a permit-to-work, an out-of-hours window booked so trading-day disruption is avoided, and pre-survey paperwork lodged with the building manager. The investigation runs a Protimeter Surveymaster plus Tramex pinless moisture map, then a FLIR E96 thermal camera (640x480 sensor, less than 0.04 degrees C differential) follows the heating or cold-feed temperature trace through ceiling voids and behind office partitions. For Barbican residential leaks, pressure-decay testing across isolated sections of the flat's plumbing pins the source down before lifting any of the original parquet.

Underfloor leak surveys in the commercial stock lean on the Sewerin Aquaphon A150 acoustic kit, rod microphone on accessible valves and ground microphone over screed and raised-floor sections. Hydrophone work covers cold-water tanks on plant-room decks. Sodium fluorescein and Rhodamine WT dye under a Spectroline OPX-365 UV lamp distinguishes above-floor plumbing leaks from waste-pipe failures on toilet macerators and pantry sinks. The 5% hydrogen / 95% nitrogen tracer gas mix (BS EN 14338 compliant) handles concealed runs in service voids.

Damp surveys on lower-ground commercial space include the salt-test analysis (30 minutes on-site, 48-hour lab turnaround) for nitrate, chloride or neutral salts. Every report is written to the format accepted by LV, Aviva, Direct Line, Admiral, Hiscox, Zurich, AXA, RSA, NIG, Allianz, Ageas and Legal & General. Survey from a fixed starting fee, repair work at the City half-hour rate.