Northumbrian Water is launching a £2 million scheme to renew more than 9km of ageing water pipes in Birtley, Gateshead, to strengthen the quality and reliability of local supplies.

The programme will focus on the Portobello Road area and nearby streets. Delivery partner United Infrastructure is due to start in the final week of May, with work expected to last around 10 months.

Teams will be active across the neighbourhood while upgrades are installed. Customers will be notified ahead of any activity close to their homes, and traffic management will be used where necessary to limit disruption on the roads.

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The Birtley project follows the recent completion of 20km of pipe replacement in Felling, as well as the start of a further 22km of upgrades in Gateshead's Leam Lane area.

Brian Hardy, Northumbrian Water's Project Manager, said: "This work is part of a £74m investment in replacing more than 360km of older water pipes across the North East over five years, and will help to protect the quality and resilience of customers’ supplies for many years to come.

"Our team will be using methods, including a process which combines the insertion of the new pipes with the removal of the old ones, to reduce the impact of our work and reduce the amount of time we are in individual locations, but we know it will be disruptive at times and we will do everything we can to reduce that impact."