Award-winning “Squibbers Way”, Bridgwater, Whitemountain (Breedon Group)
A project of fantastic proportions, challenging civils and transformative landscaping. Whitemountain (Breedon Group) were appointed by Somerset County Council to construct the Colley Lane Southern Access Road in Bridgwater, Somerset.
The £18.4 million scheme links Marsh Lane and Parrett Way thereby easing serious congestion along the Taunton Road and Broadway. Comprising 840m of carriageway, two new bridges and improved cycle and footway links, the project employed innovative techniques to overcome some serious challenges from the start.
9,000m3 of polystyrene blocks were used to minimise bridge loading on poor ground. Each of these blocks took at least three men to carry it despite comprising 97% air! The longest bridge in Somerset, 52m span additionally aided prevention of erosion and was lifted into place with a 1,250-ton mobile crane with a 63m boom.
Whitemountain latterly won the RICS 2020 Infrastructure award for the development.
Landscaping
The landscaping comprised planting 222 trees, over 7,000 whips and over 10,000 aquatics and sowing wildflower and grass seed on embankments and in swales.
Initially tendering for soft landscaping in July 2018, Tony Benger Landscaping (TBL) finally put their spades in the ground in April 2019 after no less than 10 revisions to the bill of quantities. Each revision reflected the willingness of both Whitemountain and Somerset County Council to work with TBL in order to arrive at the most suitable specification for the challenging terrain. Oliver Hemson, contract managing the landscaping for TBL recalls, “It was a refreshing environment to work in; there were no egos in the room, everyone was entirely focussed on working together to achieve the most professional outcome. The clients appreciated our proven tree-staking technique and we sourced, at their request, biodegradable spiral guards – these were just some of the beneficial spec changes we worked on together.”
Trees:
Initially we worked with Whitemountain on species; we had to change Fraxinus to Sycamore on account of Ash Die Back, and we had to shop around for UK provenance stock. The specified trees included some 25-30cm girth Carpinus Betulus extra heavy standard rootballs which were planted near the bridges. Whitemountain used GPS to locate all the tree positions for us. TBL used a 6-ton digger and tree lifting attachment to lift the trees onto a trailer, ferry them to their planting location and assist in getting the trees up, or down the embankments accordingly. We had to divide the planting across two seasons so as to not get ahead of the build programme. Materials comprised root barrier along road edges, mycorrhizal root growth promoting fungi and above ground double-staking with longer than normal stakes (because of the gradient).
Aquatics:
Planting aquatics in newly formed commercial areas is often troublesome. Is the ground wet enough at time of planting? Is the site attenuation scheme in full operation? Will soil stay damp enough throughout the year? What do I do about my leaking waders? These were some of the aquatics obstacles we had to navigate.
Maintenance:
After all the landscaping was finished we handed over to TBL commercial maintenance team. Their fist massive task was to water all our trees via the irrigation pipes we’d installed. Ongoing they have managed the wildflower areas and re-erected the windblown whips along with a sizeable weeding commitment.
In summary:
At the end of the construction phase, and well into our maintenance contract now in October 2020, we find ourselves able to reflect. This had been a project of unique challenges but because Whitemountain were so good to work with, none of the challenges became a real problem. Oliver’s Team Leader, Alex Rockett says, “Whitemountain staff were always around to help, they seemed genuinely interested in our work and how they could best help us. The plans [drawn by Somerset County Council] were also great to work from – really clear, no errors, lovely. It was hard work, no doubt about it, and we had some bad weather over probably the wettest winter I can recall, but great team spirit made it a very positive experience.”
Wonder if your commercial infrastructure project could benefit from working together with Bengers? Call us on 01404 831844 and select the Commercial Option. We will carefully listen to your landscaping needs and take care of everything for you.