Cycle-Pathic Tendencies
The Horsey cycle path at Eastbourne commissioned by East Sussex County Council and Costains has presented Landbuild Ltd with a range of challenges. The fundamentally wetland nature with the associated issues surrounding bringing in construction equipment to land that was not only waterlogged but ecologically sensitive had to be given careful thought and planning.
In fact the first order of business when the project began was an installation of nearly 2,000 ZIGMATS to form a protective trackway along the entire 1.8 kilometre route. Thus avoiding plant or vehicles coming into contact with the ground surface.
Much more recently, the long and elegant Infracore bridge sections provided by Lifespan Structures Ltd of Hampshire had to be brought into site, transferred from an Abnormal length load trailer, onto a HIAB vehicle, along 900 metres of the nearly completed cycle path, to the lift site. It was then carefully lifted into position so that Landbuild staff could to the final fix.
Even in this closing phase, problems that were encountered and overcome included:
- 15.50m x 3.0m wide load brought in by road. Care of our trombone trailer and driver Richard ‘Luggy’ Lainsbury
- Carrying an 11.00m load on a 8.0m long body. Which required a bespoke 4 piece carrier frame, knocked up by our in house fabricators in double quick time.
- Driving a 28t plus 8 wheel HIAB outfit along a track, actually built for something more along the lines of a Raleigh Chopper. Which required skill and care by driver Tony Hill and some GPRM’s laid around the corners on the sensitive sections.
- Setting the whole thing up alongside the stream on a platform of suitable strength and traction. Sorted by Landbuild’s excellent groundwork team levelling the area and installing 12 of our mighty Tuff Track panels forming a rock solid base. Enhanced further with some of our 3m x 1.5m x 25 mm steel plates for the outrigger positions
- The actual lifting phase was in many ways the easy part. Aided by one of our slinger/signaller/banksmen, Chris Carlier
- A series of Lift Plans, to be approved by the main contractor, covering all of the above elements and taking account of the many site conditions.
Having the whole range of services, knowhow and products required in one place with us at Southdown, made managing this phase infinitely simpler and ultimately safer, than trying to draw assets and expertise from a range of different vendors.