Civil Engineering

Innovative Safety Fencing from Scott Parnell

Scott Parnell, the civil engineering firm, has managed to receive registered trademark status on its TouchSafe® GRP palisade fencing, which is the only product available that is capable of completely eliminating electricity conduction. Produced using super strength, lightweight, corrosion-resistant materials and designed following years of painstaking research, TouchSafe® is unique

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90 Jobs Lost as Civil Engineering Firm Enters Administration

Civil engineering business Moulding Contracts Limited is set to cut the jobs of 90 workers after being placed into administration by the High Court. A process to secure a buyer and additional funding for the £18m-turnover firm were unsuccessful. Diane Hill and Mark Getliffe of business advisory firm CLB Coopers

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London Underground Names Contractors for £350m Scheme

The preferred contractor teams have been named by London Underground for the £350 million Future Stations’ Civils and Tunnelling Works framework. Joint ventures between Taylor Woodrow/Bam Nuttall and Morgan Sindall/BeMo have secured places on all three lots covering tunnelling, civils and combines civils and tunnelling. Hochtief also won a contract

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Birmingham New Street Station Could Win Civil Engineering Award

Birmingham’s New Street Station and Grand Central development is in the running to become the most popular civil engineering project in the UK. The huge scheme, named the winner of this year’s Institution of Civil Engineers West Midlands’ 2016 Annual Awards, is one of the projects listed for the ICE

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Foresight Group Invests £3m into Civil Engineering Business

Foresight Group has ploughed £3 million into Manchester bases civil engineering firm Utilities Design & Planning from the Foresight Regional Investment Fund. UDP, a provider of traffic management and civil engineering services, offers inspections, planning works and project management of utilities, sewer connections and highways and rail schemes. The firm

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North East Infrastructure Scheme Nominated for National Prize

A major North East infrastructure scheme has been nominated for a national award. People of the North East are being asked to vote for the Crag End Landslip Stabilisation project in Northumberland, which is one of the possible winners of the UK’s most popular civil engineering project. Voting is now

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Featuring Eurogold: Interview With Founder Damien Brickland

Safety Is Not An Option Worker wellbeing goes hand in hand with business growth at Eurogold (The Following is a Promoted Article) “No Muddy Boots”, reads the sign at the door of Eurogold’s head office in Huyton near Liverpool. It is a simple, honest request and one that becomes increasingly

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Featuring Roadbridge: Interview With Peter Byrne (Environmental Manager)

A Considerate Constructor (The Following is a Promoted Article) The completion of the Chelmsford Effluent Pipeline Works by Roadbridge was met with the glowing commendation that is expected by this award winning company. As one of Ireland’s most prominent and well-respected civil engineering businesses, Roadbridge has enjoyed significant growth over

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Latest Issue
Issue 322 : Nov 2024

Civil Engineering

Innovative Safety Fencing from Scott Parnell

Scott Parnell, the civil engineering firm, has managed to receive registered trademark status on its TouchSafe® GRP palisade fencing, which is the only product available that is capable of completely eliminating electricity conduction. Produced using super strength, lightweight, corrosion-resistant materials and designed following years of painstaking research, TouchSafe® is unique because it doesn’t contain any metal components, ensuring total safety from possible electrocution incidents. “We wanted to make a product that would make incidents such as electric shocks and electrocution a thing of the past whilst removing the need to earth or bond the fence. This further reduces risk on site and increases commercial efficiencies,” said George Woollard, Design & Specification Manager at Scott Parnell Rail. “A lot of hard work has gone into designing our TouchSafe® palisade fencing and making it the best product it can be. We believe TouchSafe® represents the future of palisade fencing and we’re extremely proud that it has been granted trademark status,” George added. Scott Parnell’s palisade fencing is used for screening off electricity installation areas by a variety of industries, including rail networks and electricity supplier organisation. The product is also ideal for the aviation sector as the composite materials are radar-neutral; therefore not disrupting radar signals. Moreover, the fencing is well suited to marine environments as the non-corrosive materials are able to withstand saline damage. All dimension specifications comply to BS accreditation standards. Unlike many fencing products, TouchSafe® is supplied in fully-assembled panel form, making it easier and quicker to install on site. The Scott Parnell story started in 2012 when friends Dave Scott and Steve Parnell spotted a gap in the market for an independent merchant and decided to go into business together. With 70 years combined experience in the drainage and civil engineering market they wanted their company to be a smaller, independent merchant, specialising in groundworks and civils – helping it to stand out in the marketplace.

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GRAHAM awarded M40 noise barrier installation with Highways England

GRAHAM has been awarded a scheme to install conventional noise barriers on the M40 motorway as part of a series of improvements on behalf of Highways England. The scheme will take place between Junctions 3 and 8 of the motorway, with the ultimate goal being to reduce noise pollution along the route. The commitment to deliver these improvements is set out in Highways England’s Delivery Plan. Highways England has been working in partnership with the M40 Chiltern Environmental Group (M40 CEG), Wycombe District Council and South Oxfordshire District Council, to develop proposals to reduce noise along the M40 corridor between Loudwater (near junction 3 of the motorway) in Buckinghamshire and Wheatley (near junction 8) in South Oxfordshire. The organisation has been liaising with the M40 Core Group since 2005 over road noise along the M40 corridor. Following feasibility reports into using photovoltaic enabled noise barriers and PV panels, Highways England asked suppliers to develop a more cost affordable solution, and in 2016 the decision was made to revert to conventional noise barriers. Noise barriers are planned for sections of the M40 as it passes near High Wycombe, as well as near the Buckinghamshire villages of Lane End, Stokenchurch and Chepping Wycombe. Five of the sites involve direct work to highway structures, and account for 1.9km of the proposed 4.9km of barrier. The contract will be overseen by Dave Brown, who was recently appointed to lead on GRAHAM’s collaborative delivery framework (CDF) with Highways England. Upon award of the scheme, Dave said: “GRAHAM is pleased to be leading on this scheme for Highways England, which will make a huge difference to residents based along the M40 motorway. “To ensure the scheme is as cost effective as possible, the supplier has identified innovative solutions at Loudwater Viaduct, limiting barrier height while still maintaining a reduction in noise. “GRAHAM is committed to undertaking schemes like this in a collaborative manner, engaging the local community and working closely with Highways England to deliver improvements which will be beneficial for those who reside in the area.” GRAHAM’s civil engineering team has been involved in some of the most prestigious projects within the UK and Ireland, including the Tennison Road Bridge Replacement for Network Rail, the A138 Chelmer Viaduct for Highways England, and the high-profile M80 Stepps to Haggs Upgrade in central Scotland. The company has a very strong civil engineering track record which is underscored by two recent short-listings in the Major Civil Engineering Project of the Year (over £50m) category at the 30th British Construction Industry Awards 2017.

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Deep Soil Mixing Ltd Completes Runcorn Soil Stabilisation Project Using Cutter Soil Mixer

Specialist ground engineering and soil stabilisation company Deep Soil Mixing Ltd has successfully completed a soil stabilisation project in Runcorn, Cheshire, for client Wildgoose Construction Ltd using the innovative Cutter Soil Mixer. Deep Soil Mixing Ltd introduced the Cutter Soil Mixer to the UK when the company worked on the Mersey Gateway project in 2016 so using it at this Runcorn development meant it is only the second time this bi-rotational mixing head has been used for soil mixing in the UK Using their controlled soil mixing technique, Deep Soil Mixing transformed the challenging site, ensuring the extensive project could be finished to a high standard – the soil had to be stabilised and any chemicals contained in the ground locked in, before Contractors Wildgoose Construction could start work on the construction of the site which would contain a public house, restaurant, coffee house, car park and access roads. Prior to commencement on site as with all projects Deep Soil Mixing Ltd undertake rigorous testing and assessment of the ground and its suitability for soil mixing. Laboratory tests are also undertaken using samples of the soil to be treated mixed with different proportions of a wide selection of binders to select the most appropriate mix. From these results, Deep Soil Mixing Ltd then prepare a detailed specification. On the Runcorn project, Deep Soil Mixing Ltd installed soil mixing panels across the site as well as a soil mixed mattress and soil mixed wall next to a Major Accident Hazard Pipeline (MAHP), to lock in chemicals and prevent leachate to ensure the ground was stabilised for the building works to commence. “The site was heavily contaminated and situated in close proximity to a MAHP and an adjacent canal embankment which was unstable, so we had quite a challenge on our hands,” says Colin Critchlow, Director at Deep Soil Mixing Ltd. “On this project, we used a cutter soil mixing head as well as a soil mixing bucket.” A cutter soil mixing head is a machine used to mix the ground, particularly when needed at greater depths and in densely consolidated soils. It achieves a greater level of density compared to other soil mixing methods and is highly effective. In addition to installing the soil mixed panels, mattress and wall, the company also soil mixed the building foundations. “We needed to lock in chemicals within the original site as well as reduce the levels of vibrations to a nearby gas pipeline and an adjacent canal embankment which was unstable,” adds Colin Critchlow. “Thanks to our wide range of experience, we’re used to working on challenging sites like this one. “The high-pressure gas mains pipe was charged at 30 Bar and was located within two metres of the site – we used vibration monitors throughout the project to measure the frequency transfer to confirm all met National Grid safety requirements. “We’re proud of everything we achieved on this project, especially given how heavily contaminated with an assortment of chemicals the site was – not to mention unstable. Thanks to the different soil mixing techniques, we secured the site and enabled the complex of restaurant, pub and coffee shop to be built alongside a car park and access roads.”

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90 Jobs Lost as Civil Engineering Firm Enters Administration

Civil engineering business Moulding Contracts Limited is set to cut the jobs of 90 workers after being placed into administration by the High Court. A process to secure a buyer and additional funding for the £18m-turnover firm were unsuccessful. Diane Hill and Mark Getliffe of business advisory firm CLB Coopers in Manchester have been appointed as joint administrators for Moulding Contracts, which operated from from bases in Greater Manchester, Oxfordshire and County Durham. Mark said: “Moulding Contracts will complete some specific contracts but there is no prospect of it continuing to trade as a going concern. “The workforce was already in a redundancy consultation.“ Speaking further, he said there is “every prospect of creditors being paid a distribution”, adding: “The expectation is that we will be able to distribute funds back to creditors in 2017. “A plan has been agreed to effect this and creditors will be consulted early in the New Year.“ Founded in 1950 as a family-run plant hire company in the North West, Moulding Contracts went on to become a major service provider for both the quarrying and brick making industries across the North and Midlands. In 1996, after a string of successful joint venture projects, Moulding Contracts merged with a North East-based regional landfill engineering business. Employees affected include site agents, site engineers, plant operators and groundworkers. CLB Coopers’ Mark Getliffe continued: “It’s unwelcome to see people lose their jobs at any time of year but there is a chronic shortage of these skills across civil engineering and construction, so it’s our hope and belief that the workforce will be able to find alternative employment.“ Article taken from https://bdaily.co.uk/industrials/21-12-2016/90-jobs-lost-as-civil-engineering-firm-moulding-contracts-enters-administration/

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London Underground Names Contractors for £350m Scheme

The preferred contractor teams have been named by London Underground for the £350 million Future Stations’ Civils and Tunnelling Works framework. Joint ventures between Taylor Woodrow/Bam Nuttall and Morgan Sindall/BeMo have secured places on all three lots covering tunnelling, civils and combines civils and tunnelling. Hochtief also won a contract but only secured a place on the third combined civils and tunnelling lot with the other joint ventures. The eight year framework is part of the plan from London Underground to upgrade its stations, including Paddington, Elephant and Castle and Camden. Included in the work packages will be the construction of new ticket halls, station entrances and platforms including associated shaft works and tunnelling. Manging Director of Major Projects at Morgan Sindall, Paul Gott, commented: “Our joint venture has a strong working relationship having already worked together on a number of complex projects in the capital and we are looking forward to deploying this expertise on this framework.” The joint venture between BAM Nuttall and Taylor Woodrow Construction has a long track record having previously worked on the massive Tottenham Court Road and Victoria Tube station revamp revamps. Morgan Sindall and Austrian tunnelling specialist BeMo previously worked together with Balfour Beatty during the Whitechapel and London Liverpool Station phases of Crossrail. Last month, Morgan Sindall secured a £24 million contract to work on Southampton Ports. Port owner Associated British Ports commissioned two five-deck car storage facilities to enable the port to handle greater numbers of cars, which are shipped to meet overseas demand. Morgan Sindall’s appointment is a key element in ABP’s £50m investment to transform and expand vehicle handling facilities at Southampton. The scheme at Southampton’s Eastern and Western Docks will see the Morgan Sindall construct multi-level storage facilities, Deck 6 and Deck 7, with capacity for 8,670 car parking spaces for the port.

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Birmingham New Street Station Could Win Civil Engineering Award

Birmingham’s New Street Station and Grand Central development is in the running to become the most popular civil engineering project in the UK. The huge scheme, named the winner of this year’s Institution of Civil Engineers West Midlands’ 2016 Annual Awards, is one of the projects listed for the ICE People’s Choice Award. It will line up against 11 other schemes from throughout the UK, with the general public having until November 30 to vote for its favourite. The winning infrastructure project will be named in January next year. The Queen opened the new look station in November last year, and features an iconic new atrium over a big passenger concourse, which is five times the size of the atrium at London Euston. The site is characterised by brighter, more spacious platforms, improved entrances, a range of new facilities and an abundance of natural light over the new concourse. At concourse level, it is home to 43 shops with the new Grand Central shopping complex located above, including one of the biggest department stores in the UK – John Lewis. The 450,000 sq ft shopping facility is set to create over 1,000 jobs and will attract more than 50 million visitors each year. ICE said the project had created a dramatic space for rail passengers and redefined the way people use the station – providing them with an impressive new environment for doing business, shopping and socialising. The project has also boosted the city’s image and is acting as a major catalyst for job creation and regeneration. Stephen Ashton, engineering director, Transportation at Atkins said: “We are very proud to have worked in collaboration with our partner organisations to have delivered this iconic station, which has made such a positive impact in just one year to the city of Birmingham and its visitors.” Patrick Power, station manager at Birmingham New Street, said: “The transformation of the station is nothing short of stunning. It is now bigger, brighter and better able to meet the needs of the growing number of passengers who use it each day.”

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Foresight Group Invests £3m into Civil Engineering Business

Foresight Group has ploughed £3 million into Manchester bases civil engineering firm Utilities Design & Planning from the Foresight Regional Investment Fund. UDP, a provider of traffic management and civil engineering services, offers inspections, planning works and project management of utilities, sewer connections and highways and rail schemes. The firm has sales of around £6 million and employs 33 members of staff, a number that will rise through the use of sub-contractors. The investment will allow the continued expansion of the company and the ability to make the most of the major infrastructure investments in the North West. UDP was established in Salford 20 years ago by the current directors Noel Gallagher and David Hilton who will stay with the firm as part of the transaction. Former MD at Enterprise, Richard Fraser, will join as non-executive chairman, and former FD at Amey Plc, David Atherton, will join as finance director to support the current management team. This is the third investment from the £40 million FRIF which is led out of Foresight’s office in Manchester and invests in high growth SMEs in the North West area. Managing Director UDP, Dave Hilton, commented: “The Manchester market is fast providing more opportunities for expansion with focus on a growing economy and infrastructure. Foresight’s support will allow us to engage with this growth in activity through driving sales, and by expanding services into adjacent geographies to meet emerging demands.” Among UDP’s clients are Manchester and Salford City Councils, Transport for Greater Manchester, Greater Manchester Police and property developer Argent. Claire Alvarez, senior investment manager, Foresight added: “UDP has demonstrated strong growth in recent years, and is a great example of the type of SME that we look for in the FRIF.” Foresight WAS advised in the transaction by a team from Addleshaw Goddard led by Katie Simpson and Andy Green with financial due diligence provided by Stephen Green’s team at RSM, commercial diligence carried out by Roger Penny of RPL and management due diligence carried out by Mike Hicks of Catalysis.

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North East Infrastructure Scheme Nominated for National Prize

A major North East infrastructure scheme has been nominated for a national award. People of the North East are being asked to vote for the Crag End Landslip Stabilisation project in Northumberland, which is one of the possible winners of the UK’s most popular civil engineering project. Voting is now open online for the ICE People’s Choice Award, which allows everyone who uses infrastructure to select the greatest civil engineering achievements of the year in the UK. The Crag End Landslip Stabilisation scheme, which repaired and future proofed a stretch of the B6344, is one of 12 nominated projects from throughout the country. The public has until November 30 to choose its favourite project. The winning infrastructure scheme will be revealed in January 2017. The £9.5 million scheme saw the reconstruction of a 300 metre section of road that was previously closed by a huge landslip in December 2012. Not only did it deal with the direct impact of the 2012 landslip, but also addressed the underlying causes of ground instability, which ensured the residents of Rothbury will no longer have to take lengthy detours to reach the town. In achieving this, civil engineers from the VBA Joint Venture, who were commissioned by Northumberland County Council, designed and built an anchored bored piled retaining wall to support the road. An innovative passive dewatering system was also constructed to reduce groundwater pressure. Civil engineers working in local communities across the North East and throughout the world are always finding new ways of providing practical solutions to the everyday problems encountered by society, and will propel nations in the future with new, ever-improving infrastructure. ICE North East Regional Director, Penny Marshall, commented: “Civil engineers create, maintain and operate almost everything between and under our homes. The infrastructure they build connects, nourishes and improves the lives of everyone it serves.”

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Featuring Eurogold: Interview With Founder Damien Brickland

Safety Is Not An Option Worker wellbeing goes hand in hand with business growth at Eurogold (The Following is a Promoted Article) “No Muddy Boots”, reads the sign at the door of Eurogold’s head office in Huyton near Liverpool. It is a simple, honest request and one that becomes increasingly revealing the better you know the company’s founder Damien Brickland & co-founder Andy Tomkins. Damien is a man of principle and hard work, a hands-on leader who has weathered the storm of recession with unwavering ambition. 12 years since it began, the company Eurogold now enjoys a reputation as one of the North West’s premier civil engineering contractors and has almost doubled turnover since 2013 to £26.5m. Its order book remains almost full and over the next five years the company is expected to enjoy annual growth of 9%. Eurogold’s rapid progression in the last 12 months is a mark of its approach during the recession. By operating to essentially cover overheads but, importantly, maintain its client base, staff and external workforce, Damien consolidated the company’s position to leave it ideally placed to grow during the upturn. Realising that the significant increase in contracts demanded further focus on all aspects of its operations, money was made available to invest in the business. This included £1.7m on new plant and vehicles to ensure the workforce had the best and safest tools and equipment at its disposal. The implementation of a full-time in-house Health and Safety Manager was another new addition. This was a necessity given the growing number of sites on which Eurogold was operating. In order to consistently deliver high standards for its clients and ensure the safety of its workforce, new measures were put in place to develop an already strong part of the business. Indeed, since the full-time introduction of Health and Safety Manager Michaela Connor, the bar has been set even higher. As a Worksafe Contractor and accredited to CHAS, Construction-line and the NHBC’s SafeMark scheme, Eurogold has nothing to prove when it comes to the safety of its workforce. But it’s the little things that make you stand out. That’s why the “no muddy boots” slogan has such significance. “A tidy site is a safe site,” comments Damien. “For us, the biggest thing in Health and Safety is that it begins with your perception of the business. It starts with a simple thing such as: are the vans clean? If you go in our cabins, are they tidy? That tends to tell you what’s happening on the site.” It is a strategy that comes from the top. “I go straight to the van, then I go to the site office, and finally the canteen,” adds Damien. “The state of these areas tell me everything I need to know about how well-run this site is. If the office is a mess, how well is that site being managed?” It is an approach that has brought dividend. Both Damien and Michaela enjoy a close working relationship with their site managers and the operatives on the ground. This has promoted openness amongst staff who are now more willing than ever to raise issues regarding safety, discuss their own attitudes and ideas, and highlight areas that could be improved. More than anything, safety has become an ingrained culture amongst the workforce meaning it is part of the job, not an addition to it. “Safety isn’t an option,” says Michaela. “It is the norm. What we can do, however, is take it up a level.” In fact, both Damien and Michaela are so confident in Eurogold’s health and safety procedures across its varied sites – currently 56 of them in total – they asked me to randomly pick any two for a spot visit, knowing I wouldn’t find any faults. As a groundworks and civil engineering business, Eurogold faces a number of different risks. Its varied work delivers solutions for such clients as house builders Redrow, Bellway, Wain, MCI Developments, Stewart Milne Homes, Partner Construction, Taylor Wimpey, Eccleston Homes, McCarthy & Stone, and Barratt Home; all blue chip companies that Damien is proud to be involved and associated with. Eurogold provides everything from bulk excavation, foundations and domestic drainage to hard and soft landscaping, and roads and sewer work. Risks are therefore similarly diverse from working at height to site transport, vibration, dust and manual handling. It is a challenge but one Michaela tackles head-on. In addition to daily visits by Contracts Managers and a documented weekly site inspection by the site foreman or supervisor, the Health & Safety Department will carry out regular qualitative and quantitative auditing which has been facilitated by the uninformed Health and Safety Management System implemented on every site. This has brought some key benefits such as creating a smooth transition between site teams and assisting in KPI benchmarking for compliance and standards. This is complemented by the CITB Construction Skills Card Scheme (CSCS/CPCS), which is the minimum requirement for anyone working on a Eurogold site. Further training is given such as NVQ’s, NPORS, WIAPS, SPIDER, First Aid, and NRASWA Street-Works, alongside additional on-going training based on task-specific activities include Manual Handling, Abrasive Wheel and Slinger Banksman to name a few. Furthermore, Eurogold’s onsite supervisory staff are qualified through the SMSTS or SSSTS training schemes. “I visit all our sites regularly and, alongside the Contracts Managers, we will identify any tweaks that we may need to make and deliver any training or refresher training where necessary.  The training matrix is a live document so we assess on an ongoing basis,” remarks Michaela. “We care about our people,” adds Damien. “Once they’ve worked here for any length of time, they know it is the place to be. We give them the best training and high specification equipment, vehicles and facilities because if you get those things right, the standard of work and the services you provide for customers are right.” Incentivising best practice has also helped improve Health and Safety, and proven popular with the workforce.

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Featuring Roadbridge: Interview With Peter Byrne (Environmental Manager)

A Considerate Constructor (The Following is a Promoted Article) The completion of the Chelmsford Effluent Pipeline Works by Roadbridge was met with the glowing commendation that is expected by this award winning company. As one of Ireland’s most prominent and well-respected civil engineering businesses, Roadbridge has enjoyed significant growth over the last few years, now boasting activity across the United Kingdom as well as further afield with projects completed in Poland, the South Pacific and the Middle East. Since its formation in 1967, Roadbridge has continued to develop around the family traditions on which its foundations have been built upon. This has seen it develop enduring relationships with clients, successfully delivering projects across a variety of sectors for customers serving the transport, renewables and energy, utilities, commercial, industrial, waste management and leisure industries. A key component of its ethos is consideration for the client’s needs, the community in which its endeavours may impact upon, and the wider environment in terms of sustainable, long-term value. Roadbridge – acting as principal contractor was responsible for the design and build of an 8km effluent pipeline between the Chelmsford Sewage Treatment Works in Essex to an existing outfall on the River Blackwater – brought it the attention of the Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS). It came as little surprise to Quality and Environmental Manager Peter Byrne who said Roadbridge had exhibited the qualities of a “considerate constructor” since its inception; it is part of the company’s defining approach. Recognised by the CCS for its work on the Chelmsford Effluent Pipeline with the award of Bronze, the accolade joins others achieved by Roadbridge including Silver for a road improvement scheme in Wales. The Executive Summary recorded by CCS representatives following inspection of the site scored the company highly across all categories with the appearance of the site achieving particularly high marks. The report said Roadbridge clearly approached “everything in a very professional manner” and that this is “evident immediately when arriving on site”. The CCS award was a chance for the company to celebrate its work ethic – combining the elements that make a “considerate constructor” with sound implementation of civils expertise. Indeed, as Byrne notes, it was a fitting endorsement of the company’s abilities. “The Considerate Constructors award actually mirrors our ethos,” he says. “It gave us an opportunity to be externally recognised for our policies and procedures which we have always considered to be standard practice. “When we’re looking to stand out in a competitive market, awards such as the CCS Bronze gives us that edge. But, importantly, it is an endorsement of the successful systems we have in place – systems that have driven the business over the years, resulting in its success today.” The pipeline project, one of the biggest of its kind in the UK, saw Roadbridge install around 8km of concrete pipe alongside 2km of upgrades. The contract with Northumbrian Water involved the design, supply and installation of the underground gravity pipeline to run in parallel with the existing pipelines including numerous strategic crossings of roads and watercourses. The project was successfully completed on time, to budget and to the total satisfaction of the client in November 2014. The success of the project led it to being awarded Project of the Year Finalist at the Northumbrian Water Group Framework Awards for 2014 – 2015. One of the considerations when undertaking the contract was the close proximity it had to a caravan park. A popular destination for holidaymakers in the summer, Roadbridge liaised with the park owner in regards to working hours in order to mitigate noise, while measures were put in place to prevent potential pollution to nearby water courses from the site’s large areas of exposed soil. It was representative of the company’s overall approach. “When we leave an area we’ve worked in, we want only to have left a good impression. We will buy from local suppliers, we’ll help out with local interest groups in the area. We try to give back to the community meaning there’s a lot more value to our presence than merely the job at hand,” explains Byrne. This means mitigating disruption to daily life, communicating with local residents to keep them up to date with project works, caring about the wider environment and the health and safety of both the workforce and others who may visit or be affected by the site works. It all adds up to being an ideal “considerate constructor”. Byrne calls it the “non-adversarial approach”. He adds, “The very nature of civils work means we are inherently impacting on people’s day-to-day lives. We aim to be transparent and to work closely with the client as much as possible to limit the adverse effects of our work. Our ability to do this is paramount and it’s something that we’ve been able to highlight through the CCS awards.”

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