Earthworks incl. cut & fill to road infrastructure & parcels
Excavation & completion of three attenuation ponds
Completion of existing sustainable drainage systems
S38 adoptable highways & pavements
Construction of sub-stations and access
Self-lay water main works & civils works to other utilities
Hard landscaping of public open spaces & street furniture
S104 adoptable foul and stormwater sewers
11m deep 3m Dia. Wet Well pump shaft, 8m deep 1.5 Dia. Inlet
70lm 2m Dia. foul water storage tanks link to pump station
Construction of pump station compound
Project Overview
Nestled into the Cambridgeshire countryside is Wintringham, former arable farmland in St Neots. Urban&Civic have designed this project with a focus on well-being and sustainability. They’ve incorporated a pedestrian and cycle-friendly environment and placed pocket parks within each residential area to create green landscaped spaces between the new housing. A central linear park runs throughout the whole development, bringing together other green spaces, and the development features a range of high-quality cycle paths and walkways. We were honoured to have been awarded the role of principal contractor as part of their valued supply chain to construct the infrastructure, green spaces and roads.
Wintringham is a mixed residential and commercial development with 2,800 new homes, two primary schools, local and district centres, employment space, and many green open spaces.
Project Challenges
• Hard ground conditions at a depth of 10m required alternative construction methods & temporary works solutions to be considered, designed & implemented.
• Critical sectional completion dates required by the client resulted in a heavily resourced and aggressive construction programme to ensure key milestones were met. The recruitment of an experienced project team to work cohesively & deliver the project according to each sectional completion date was paramount.
• Management of existing developer site construction traffic whilst constructing permanent works on existing traffic routes required collaboration with a wider project consortium and the rescheduling work to off-peak periods to limit the disruption of others and our operations.
Project Outcome
• Forming positive communication channels with the public, local schools, organisations & businesses to build relationships & a reputation that can be relied upon in future collaborations & community support.
• Contributing to the design and construction of a more sustainable built environment which will have a positive impact on residents and wildlife living alongside each other.
• Maintaining an excellent relationship with the client & providing a flexible approach to scope changes to meet clients’ deadlines on time.
• Being one of our first sites to implement significant carbon reduction measures in the form of hybrid excavators, solar power pods, & alternative recycled construction materials.
An outstanding project from ECL. Run with minimal issues, excellent Health and Safety records, & without disrupting other working practices whilst maintaining a very aggressive programme.
Alex Toye - Senior Project Manager at Urban&Civic
ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
ECL is committed to managing the environment on our sites and the surrounding areas. On this project, our goal was to protect and enhance the natural environment and leave a positive legacy.
Solar-powered pods which re-use solar energy to power the welfare facilities and powers site security cameras, saving on carbon emissions.
Specific waste segregation, which is diverted from landfill.
Re-engineered sub-formation to gain an increased CBR value to reduce imported sub-base and lorry movements
Quality high specification, sustainably sourced wooden bridges have been used to blend in with the environment and last for many years.
Soft landscaping, preparing tree pits for the extensive planting, and replanting of hedgerows.
Improving the natural habitat by excavating wildlife ponds with bird hides and viewing platforms. The bird hide was built with natural clean timber, which will change colour in time and blend into the new environment. It is based at the man-built pond with an island in the middle where a large ornamental branch will be placed to encourage birds to perch. Various bird boxes have also been installed around the area.
DEEP EXCAVATION OF WET WELL
The deep excavation of the wet well is located on the western side of the site and sandwiched between overhead cables, a rail track, and underground high and medium-pressure gas assets, all making excavation exceptionally high risk. However, careful planning by the ECL’s highly proficient project team, trained in Safe Systems of Work, liaised with the project design team, Network Rail, UK Power Networks and Cadent Gas to overcome the constraints and challenges.
Re-design of foul drainage runs that connected the pump station to reduce the excavation depth.
Initially, the wet well was planned to be installed and constructed using the caisson, top-down method. However, with the challenging ground conditions, this method proved less cost-effective, so an alternative method, sheet and frame deep excavation, was agreed.
The change of plan required temporary works to be re-designed by our temporary works co-ordinator and temporary works designer.
ECL’s technical team worked intensively revising the temporary works, including over-designing the temporary works platform to ensure the crane and the silent press piling rig wouldn’t be at risk of overturning. Working alongside a subcontractor for sheet piling to ensure the working radius and platform were installed in the correct positions to limit the collapse radius and ensure any overturning wouldn’t fall into the overheads or rail line.
LANDSCAPING BACK TO THE FUTURE
Urban&Civic have executive archaeological investigations in the area, which have uncovered several Iron Age roundhouses, homes to families who lived on the site over 2,500 years ago and artefacts, including pottery and coins dating as far back as the Neolithic period (c. 4000 – 2200 BC).
Urban&Civic have investigated the area’s landscape as part of the site preparation work. Their ambition is to comprehend how pre-historic residents lived in the area and reflect their habitat in the design and features of the new development.
As part of our finishing works, we are landscaping to replicate the land’s original topography, bringing the land back to the future by incorporating pockets of woodland, grassland, wild meadow areas and brooks where they once originally stood. We’ve already established play areas with the design inspiration from the history uncovered during the archaeological excavations.
Benches, a group of ponds, walking routes and a bird viewing station on the banks of the central pond have been nestled into place. Each feature aims to provide a haven for wildlife and spaces for residents to immerse themselves in nature. It’s a stunning development, and we feel fortunate to be part of this landmark build.
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