Bransty Row, Whitehaven

WORKS INCLUDED

• Reconstruction and re-surfacing of existing carriageways with our in-house surfacing teams
• Hot Rolled Asphalt with precoated chippings
• Road widening and reconstruction
• Yorkstone paving to footpaths and granite setts to new taxi and bus bays installed on high strength proprietary bedding mortar
• Granite kerbs and channels throughout
• New traffic signals and pedestrian crossings / refuge islands
• Street lighting and associated ducting
• New gullies and drainage
• High quality St. Bees Sandstone retaining walls
• Installation of street furniture including bus shelter, bollards, bespoke fencing screens and Sandstone troughs
• Landscaping and planting works
• Road markings and speed hump installation
• Liaison with utility companies to arrange and programme service diversion and connections to the new adjacent Buzz Station scheme
• Extensive Traffic and Pedestrian Management
• Utility diversion work
• Foundation design to the signs and lampposts was managed using one of our approved Structural Engineers
• Applications for Temporary Traffic Road Orders

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KEY RISKS/CHALLENGES

• Considerable pedestrian traffic as works were located on a key route around the town centre and in an area containing numerous public houses, supermarkets, train station, offices and shops.
• Work had to be programmed to to keep the vehicular traffic flowing and disruption to stakeholders kept to a minimum.
• Corckicle railway tunnel was below our works. Close liaison with Network Rail was required to avoid damaging their asset and closing the West Coast rail network.
• Coordinating with the Utility companies to make sure they carried out their work to the master programme.
• Due to night-time revellers and the potential damage they could cause to the cones/signs/barriers it was decided to have a night time presence on site on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings.
• It was recognised during our planning stage that underground cellars could be prone to flooding off the highway when kerbs were removed. Areas were therefore sandbagged to divert the rain water.

LESSONS IMPLEMENTED/COLLABORATION/VALUE ADDED

• Working closely with the designers, alternative Granite and Yorkstone materials were proposed, not only to reduce the price and lead in times but also to reduce the life cycle embodied carbon.
• All material waste materials generated were sent to our recycling facility. This resulted in zero tonnage being sent to landfill for the whole scheme.
• Early contractor involvement and discussions with the local Cumbria Highways office to pre-plan temporary traffic and pedestrian management routes. The site team’s local knowledge of the area was also an advantage
• The decision was taken by Thomas Armstrong to carry out Night-time and Sunday working to avoid disruption to businesses and rail users.
• In-house surfacing gangs on hand to maintain flexibility and programme.
• Our bespoke commercial tracker for Compensation Events /Early Warnings/Project Manager Instructions was utilised to ensure key dates were achieved and to provide cost certainty for our client. This has now been superseded by using CEMAR project management software on all schemes.

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PLANNING AND PROGRAMME

• Bespoke utility tracker used in respect of all utilities to ensure they met the master programme requirements.
• Works programmed around 7no busy junctions which required extensive traffic management planning and phasing.
• The old pedestrian refuge islands were taken out early during the contract to allow the temporary traffic management to be easily repositioned during the works. Temporary coned islands and a temporary push button crossing were used to keep pedestrians safe during the works.
• The new large islands were installed after the final surfacing work. This enabled the traffic to be swapped between lanes during surfacing works. If the islands were installed pre-surfacing then a Road Closure would have been required.
• Specific Face Book page for the scheme with regular updates.
• Trial holes early in the contract to try to avoid service conflict with new road layout.

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SUCCESSFUL OUTCOMES

• Significant and substantial additional works successfully incorporated into the contract.
• Asta programme updated after every Compensation Event having an effect on the programme.
• Close communication with Buzz Station contractor allowed efficient and non-disruptive new service connections.
• No accidents or incidents with the general public.