Issue 13 - Summer 2007

Pennine Completes Project at one of UK’s Biggest Sewage Treatment Works

Pennine has recently finished a £280,000 project to install vibro stone columns at the Severn Trent sewage treatment works in Minworth, near Birmingham.

The scheme part of a massive £135m upgrade of the Minworth plant to meet requirements for asset maintenance and discharge quality standards, involved installing 7,709 vibro stone columns to depths of up to 4.5 metres beneath 17 primary settlement tanks.

Contract engineer David Rickson said: “It was an extremely tight programme, we had to work very closely with the main contractor Biwater North Midland Alliance to ensure we kept ahead of excavations for the Primary Settlement Tanks”.

“We put up to 6 men and two rigs to the task and brought the project in on time and to budget.”

Minworth is one of the UK’s biggest sewage treatment works and is the primary sewage works for the city of Birmingham.

Pennine Completes Project at one of UK’s Biggest Sewage Treatment Works Pennine in the running for Construction Oscar Construction Kick-Off at Kingsholm Stadium Appointments Pennine part of Prestigious Ravenscraig Regeneration

Vibro Stone Column work at Minworth

Pennine in the running for Construction Oscar

Pennine has been short listed for this year’s Contract Journal Construction Industry Awards 2007.

It was announced last week that we are in the running for the Specialist Contractor of the Year, at one of the most prestigious awards ceremonies, often referred to as the Oscars of the construction industry.

We will attend a ceremony at London’s Grosvenor House on 4th October to find out if we have secured the award against other leading specialist contractor's.

Managing director Arwel Williams said; “To be in the running for this award is fantastic. We pride ourselves on our originality, innovation and strong management. We are delighted to have been short listed and to have had our efforts recognised on such a high level.”

Construction Kick-Off at Kingsholm Stadium

Construction of Gloucester Rugby’s new 7,000-seater south stand at the Kingsholm stadium is finally underway.

Preparing the way for the new structure involved a three-man team using a rig to insert 600 top feed vibro displacement stone columns, which increased the strength and load bearing capacity of the varied ground conditions.

Graham Ellery, manager of Pennine’s Gloucester office, said: “We were delighted to win the contract, not least because it was great to be working at the home of such a prestigious club.

“It was worth £22,000 to us and involved us inserting the stone columns to depths of up to 4.5metres in ground comprised of fill materials and silty clays.”

Phase 1 is scheduled for handover at the end of September, with the final phase due for completion at the end of October. The new stand will increase the ground’s capacity from 13,000 to 17,000.

Pennine prepare the ground
at Gloucester RFC

Appointments

Pennine is continuing to strengthen its team with the appointment of five members of staff, brought in to assist with the regional offices and services available to clients.

 •  Stephanie Pegg joins Pennine as an undergraduate after recently completing
    her A levels. Stephanie, who is studying for a civil engineering degree will
    work alongside Claire Garrett as estimator for the North.

 •  Nick Smethurst, a former accountant, has also just started a civil engineering
    degree sponsored by Pennine. Nick will be based in the technical department
    at our Bacup head office.

 •  Undergraduate James Airey is the new addition in the commercial
    department. James is studying Construction Management and is also being
    sponsored by Pennine.

 •  Greg Anton joins Pennine as a graduate in geo science, he will be based at
    our Scottish office.

 •  Nicola Newman an Environmental Earth Science graduate will shortly be
    making the move to the Gloucester office.

Movers and Shakers

Pennine part of Prestigious Ravenscraig Regeneration

Pennine, has recently completed ground improvement works to pave the way for a new community at the former Ravenscraig steel works in Lanarkshire – one of Britain's biggest urban regeneration sites.

The massive 1,100 acre steelworks, which closed in 1992, is being redeveloped in an £1000m partnership project by Wilson Bowden Developments Ltd, Scottish Enterprise Lanarkshire and site owners Corus.

But before new homes can be built on the first area of the site the ground had to be prepared and compacted to give it the necessary load bearing and settlement characteristics for construction.

A Pennine team moved on site in April to begin a mammoth dynamic compaction programme that took three months to complete.

Contracts manager Richard McKenna said: "Ravenscraig is a huge site the size of 677 football pitches, which will eventually house up to 10,000 residents in 3,500 new homes, plus retail and leisure facilities including a 10,000-seater sports arena and other visitor attractions. It is therefore a very prestigious and important project and we were delighted to be involved.

"Our work involved compacting two areas of ground in two phases running back-to-back. Using two cranes, we dropped 15 tonne weights in free fall from heights of up to 20m, with 10 drops at each treatment location. The locations are plotted on pre-determined grid patterns and will compact the ground to depths of up to 8m.”

Prestigious project at Ravenscraig

This email has been sent by Pennine Vibropiling Ltd, registered in England number: 2878498 at Pavilion C2, Ashwood Park, Ashwood Way, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG23 8BG.

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