July 2010
Three Halcrow projects celebrated success on 24 June at the coveted Construction News Quality Awards.
The Owen Street Relief Road project came out as winner of the £10M-£50M Project category, Cross Valley Link Road was shortlisted in the Environmental Project category and Cobbins Brook Flood Alleviation Scheme (FAS) was Highly Commended in the same category.
Halcrow designed and supervised construction of all three shortlisted projects: for BAM Nuttall in Design and Build on behalf of Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council; for the Homes and Communities Agency; and for the Environment Agency respectively.
The Construction News Quality Awards are a celebration of the quality demonstrated by the UK construction industry encouraging innovation, management best practise and team work.
The Awards proved to be a fantastic night, bringing together over 600 of the construction industry's professionals to honour those who have performed outstandingly over the last year.
Nick Edwards, editor of Construction News magazine commented: "This is one of my favourite nights of the year - that's because it's our chance to celebrate everything that is great about this industry. The projects, the people, the constant striving to do a better job. Celebrating quality gets even more important in tough times... ...Many of the entries in this year's awards showed how companies are fighting hard to maintain and strengthen their relationships. It's why we put so much effort into making sure the industry's clients know about the awards and the showcase they represent of the industry's best and brightest."
Owen Street Relief Road was constructed by BAM Nuttall, and provides a new road passing beneath the West Coast Main Line railway in Tipton. It required off-line construction of a 5,500 tonne, 54m long concrete box structure that was pushed forwards 60m into place beneath the railway during Easter 2009. The relief road was commissioned by Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council to ease the severe traffic congestion on Tipton High Street caused by the barriers at the existing level-crossing frequently being closed for around 45 minutes per hour, which was stifling local prosperity and causing economic decline.
The Cross Valley Link Road is a key piece of infrastructure in the south west district of Northampton. The scheme provides a direct 1.45km road link connecting the A4500 Weedon Road from the M1 and Daventry to the west and the A45 Upton Way/Danes Camp Way heading to Towcester to the south. Linking residential and commercial land being developed on either side of the River Nene floodplain, the project contributes to the regeneration aspirations of client the Homes and Communities Agency (formerly English Partnerships). The project included numerous environmental and sustainability challenges, as the link road crosses mostly agricultural land in the floodplain of the River Nene. The route runs through six important County Wildlife Sites and a site of acknowledged conservation value, with the immediately surrounding area designated to become a country park.
The Cobbins Brook FAS is a flood defence scheme which reduces the risk of flooding to 314 properties in Waltham Abbey, Essex. It comprises a flood storage area 2km upstream of Waltham Abbey made up of a 715m long, 7.5m high (at it’s highest) clay embankment with reinforced concrete control structure. The 50,000m³ of clay for the embankment was won on site and the borrow pit area has been landscaped to created new wildlife habitats whilst retaining the green river corridor. The flood storage area can impound up to 754,000m³ of water for a 1:200 year (0.5%) flood event. The flood storage area was constructed in an area Designated as an Area of Ancient Landscape, a Public Open Space and within Green Belt land and between two woodlands and so the work was of a very sensitive environmental nature.