Acting as principal contractor, PPSL was challenged to extend a 200/355mm district heating main, fibre and HV network by 2km via highly congested roads. We were tasked with connecting two large council depots, Gateshead Stadium and the Academy of Sport – as well as providing future connections for more than 1000 homes. As the route crossed the main bypass to Newcastle, road closures were not permitted between Monday and Friday and only one lane could be closed at any time over the weekends. With only a 20-week funding window the project had to be delivered efficiently to meet strict timescales.
20 trial holes, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) surveys, as well as coordination with the local highways authority and council ensured that the PPSL team took the most cost effective and least disruptive route to undertake the connections. Teams worked five weekend shifts starting at 7pm Friday until 7pm each Sunday, with three civils gangs working back-to-back throughout the night to excavate 2.5m to duct the lanes for district heating, HV and fibre. The project required more than 12 civils gangs in order to manage the challenging programme constraints – with 70 people involved to ensure the project was delivered by the deadline.
This project was an excellent example of PPSL team effort – not only to deliver the programme but to maintain the most stringent quality and Health and Safety standards throughout. Like all projects, a number of challenges presented themselves along the way such as uncharted services, leaking water pipes, ground water and a couple of bad storms which were all overcome utilising pre-planned contingencies built into the PPSL Risk Register. The overall success of this project is testament to the team effort in stringent planning and expert co-ordination throughout.
