Cadent has outlined plans to invest £70m across the North West this year in a move which will support 600 jobs.
The company will upgrade the region's oldest gas mains – some of which were installed over 100 years ago.
Every year, Cadent replaces around 1.5 per cent its 34,000km North West underground pipe distribution system.
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The company said these are mostly ageing metallic mains, which are nearing the end of their safe operating lives.
The project is part of a bigger programme taking place over 30 years, and which is due to finish in 2032.
Cadent said that upgrading to plastic "ensures a long-term safe network and also means keeping everything on track to replace fossil gas with hydrogen".
The mains replacement programme confirmed for the year April 2022 to March 2023 includes more than 450,000 metres of gas mains across the North West.
This is the same length as more than 4,300 football pitches, or the same height at more than 2,800 Blackpool Towers. It is almost double the distance, as the crow flies, from the middle of Manchester to central London.
Craig Horrocks, who heads Cadent’s gas mains upgrade work in the region, said: "More than 80 per cent of homes in the North West rely on gas for central heating and it’s our job to make sure they get it, safely and reliably, every minute of every day of the year,” said .
"As our older stock reaches the end of its safe working life, we must replace it.
"We’re also excited by the arrival soon of hydrogen to our networks, which is going to be essential to the North West achieving its targets to reduce carbon emissions.
"In most cases we’re able to insert the new pipe into the old one, a technique that reduces the time of each project and means we don’t have to dig as much.
"It also means an end to what often becomes increasingly-frequent visits – with associated disruption – to repair faults on the older metallic mains, as they start to show signs of age.
"We know it’s not ideal, but my team is determined to move as quickly as they safely can and get the work done with as little disruption as possible."
