Challenge

The South Devon Link Road is a 5.5km dual carriageway, which will provide the long-awaited bypass for Kingskerswell. The road will bypass the existing A380 between Newton Abbot and Torbay.

Currently under construction, the major new road is scheduled to be completed by December 2015. The project was granted full approval by the government in May 2012 and work began in the autumn of 2012.

Anderton Concrete was initially approached in October 2013 by Galliford Try, with a view to supplying around 500m² of Keystone Retaining Wall Blocks for one of the new structures, as an alternative to the product which had been initially proposed. Unlike the majority of Keystone projects this was to be on a supply-only basis rather than Anderton offering the design element as well.

Solution

The construction of this structure (S12) commenced at the start of November and was installed by PC Construction, who are a specialist contractor associated with this type of installation.

Following the successful completion of this structure Anderton was contacted again by Galliford Try with a view to providing a Design and Supply solution for two further structures on the scheme known as S1 and S3. These two structures formed the abutments to the new Penn Inn Flyover and involved around 2000m² of Keystone. The initial build programme for these two structures was February and August 2014 with a time frame of 3 and 4 months respectively.

The order for the next two structures only arrived in March 2014 due to a number of delays on site. Work started towards the end of May 2014 on S1, which was around 700m², with S3 scheduled for the end of 2014. During this period Anderton also received an enquiry for another structure on the project, S10, which was around 3500m².

Structure S10 was slightly different to the first three in that it was essentially a tunnel supporting the new road structure. Keystone was seen as a more cost-effective option than the original proposal of RECO panels especially as the Smoothface version could be used in the tunnel as aesthetics were not an issue. Construction of this structure commenced in June 2014 with completion around early December 2014.

The final structure to commence was the second abutment to the Penn Inn Flyover, S3, which got under way in January 2015. This was another 1300m² of Splitface Keystone in the natural Flint colour and was built by specialist contractor PC Construction.

Outcome

Overall all works on the scheme went very well which was down to excellent communication between Anderton’s Sales office, Area Manager Neil MacKinnon and Galliford Try’s site team. Anderton have received positive feedback from the Galliford Try in relation to the speed and simplicity of construction and the service throughout.