Malmo Quay
Rainton Construction was appointed to undertake sewer diversion works at Malmo Quay to enable future development. The portion of land sits between the mouth of the Ouseburn and Newcastle’s Quayside, it has a range of constraints including contaminated land, mine workings, historic and redundant services, and the remains of the mineral line terminus that served the coal staithes that previously occupied the site.
Rainton Construction undertook diversions to the brick egg sewer, gravity sewer and cable routes. Surfacing was undertaken by our in-house team and the material was provided by Tynedale Roadstone. This included all traffic management to enable works to take place.
Scope of works
- Grubbed up and abandoned the existing brick egg sewer
- Pipe jacking – 1200mm diameter
- Installation of a new 300mm diameter sewer and 10 50mm diameter concrete pipes
- Installation of a rising main
- Installation of 2.4 diameter manholes working at a depth of approximately 6m
- Reinstatement of areas
To ensure best practice beyond statutory requirements we signed up to The Considerate Constructors Scheme. Strict targets were set for the ways in which the site was managed in terms of its impact on the local community to protect the environment, and health and safety standards.
Given the location and nature of this project we had to adopt a flexible approach to work around the tide and it was critical to the success of the programme to maximise working time during the available low tides. Work was planned and executed systematically and methodically and we adopted shifts to align with the tide.
We also flexed with design development, helping to establish alternative routes due to unchartered services. We were able to react quickly to the various changes and have provided valuable support in terms of project delivery against a tight timetable. As it is an urban area, we opted to undertake pipe jacking to navigate existing infrastructure, avoiding live services and going under an old stone wall. This ensured disruption to residents was minimised.
Other mitigation measures to manage noise levels and access to the site for construction vehicles as well as all deliveries scheduled on a ‘just in time’ basis when traffic was at its lightest ensured minimal impact. We ensured open lines of communication about progress and forthcoming operations so local people could raise any concerns throughout the project.
To meet timescales and the client’s requirements, the team were agile and able to co-ordinate a number of different stakeholders, including NWG with regard to diversion of their assets to keep the project on track. Thanks to strong project management we successfully completed the project on time and budget.
