Requirement

Star Carr Farm, a potato storage and distribution yard in Scarborough, required an attenuation solution for a large area with restrictive installation depth due to a peat layer. The system needed to be able to cope with sustained HGV traffic.

James Stockdale Ltd has been growing potatoes in Yorkshire since the 1940s. Initially supplying the county’s fish and chip shops and greengrocers from a 5-acre plot, the company now farms in excess of 2,300 acres. Key to its sustainable growth has been its close working relationship with McCain, which began in the 1960s.

In 2018, Stockdale looked to expand its storage and haulage offering, through the creation of a series of potato stores. Given the size of the planned storage area and distribution yard, which would need to have capacity for up to 65 potato bulkers at a time, providing adequate surface water drainage for the new site was a critical planning criteria that needed to be satisfied. To achieve this, Stockdale appointed local construction contractors, Harlands Builders Ltd.

Solution

Harlands Builders turned to ACO Water Management to overcome a restricted installation for an essential attenuation requirement.

ACO StormBrixx SD geocellular attenuation units with a brick-bonded construction were installed under the distribution yard.

Craig Harland oversaw the project: “One of the key issues we encountered early on in the construction was the discovery of a layer of peat. As the Local Authority’s environmental policy prevented the peat from being removed, we could only excavate a certain amount of material, leaving us a shallow area in which to fit a drainage system. As such, we needed a flexible solution that could work between this layer, whilst still be strong enough to cope with sustained HGV traffic from the distribution network on the finished site above.

Craig continued: “However, we became aware of the ACO StormBrixx SD series, which was shallow enough to work within the available depth, while providing the required volume and mandated attenuation levels.”

About StormBrixx

ACO StormBrixx SD (Standard Duty) is a general-purpose extension to ACO’s high-capacity patented plastic geocellular system, comprising of a 914mm-high injection-moulded stackable crate design suitable for use in a wide range of construction applications.

While the StormBrixx HD (Heavy Duty) offers the ideal solution for Local Authority mandated projects, due to the option for integrated man access units which facilitates the rigorous maintenance requirements, the new SD range is an ideal cost-effective storage and infiltration solution for non-government funded work, such as the potato stores and distribution yard at Star Carr Farm.

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