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Brooklands Road, United Utilities Ltd

Making a watertight case for flood defence

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Project Overview

Client United Utilities Ltd
Project Value £3.3m
Expertise Civil Engineering
Sector Water/Wastewater
Timeline October 2013 - December 2014
Location England - North
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Project summary

Credited for “going the extra mile”, our work on flood alleviation at Brooklands Road was acknowledged with a prestigious Customer Care Award by the client - United Utilities.

Notable for our community engagement over the 60-week programme, which included a dedicated website, featuring live updates, the £3.2m project removed 40 properties from the DG5 Register - identified as at risk of flooding.

A 20m diameter storm water detention tank, an 80m tunnel, a 3.66m isolation chamber and a 500m concrete storm sewer combined to provide extra capacity to safeguard against future extreme storm weather and, importantly, allay the genuine concerns of residents.

The detail

Customer focussed throughout our 60-week programme, the Brooklands Road project was carried out in two phases to minimise disruption to local residents. They remained at the forefront of our construction operations and were kept up to date with developments through a bespoke, live website, which included the platform for residents to give feedback.

A pertinent example of how the quality of our work delivers a lasting impact, we facilitated the connection of the main detention tank to the network ahead of schedule, which was subsequently used to avert two potential flooding events during the fourth quarter of 2015. The 20m tank, with a storage capacity of 2445m3, was constructed above an existing aquifer and required a dewatering system to control groundwater levels during construction.

To ensure water quality was maintained throughout the project, routine quality inspections were completed. Exceeding expectations, we surpassed United Utilities’ environmental targets and achieved over 85% of waste diverted from landfill and over 50% of recycled aggregate. As a result, the project was awarded the Green Apple Silver Award for successfully demonstrating best environmental practice.

"It is the teams who show great determination and effort in the face of difficult circumstances on our projects that we put forward for these nominations and the GRAHAM team reacted with a positive can-do attitude and worked extremely hard with our customer care team to improve the face of the construction and public interface on this project."

John McNeil, General Manager, United Utilities Ltd