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 | | POSSESSION IS NINE- TENTHS OF THE PROJECT! | | | Instarmac Group plc | | 27/10/2006 | | |
When it comes to bridge maintenance and refurbishment work the key word is 'possession'.
On such structures, possession time is nearly always limited, either because of the volume of traffic traversing the bridge, or that operating below. Possession time also determines many factors relating to the work to be carried out, including product selection. A typical example occurred recently at Nuneaton Station Bridge.
The bridge, adjacent to Nuneaton Station and owned and maintained by Warwickshire County Council, carries the A444 Leicester Road over the west coast mainline. It was originally constructed as a half-through plate girder bridge, with the piers and abutments capped with reinforced concrete cill beams and a deck of pre stressed concrete beams. The original decks were demolished in the1950s to facilitate the widening of Leicester Road, but the extension re-employed the original brickwork piers and abutments.
A recent routine inspection, followed by a thorough structural investigation, identified a number of structural defects on the bridge, including the deterioration of the brickwork mortar joints. As a result, repairs to the brickwork were instigated during a weekend railway possession utilising shift working to maintain constant on site occupation.
Since the possession period was restricted, the mixing and application of conventional sand and cement mortar was considered too bulky, unwieldy and longwinded. Clearly, a more speedy method of re-pointing the brickwork had to be found and it was decided to employ Instarmac Cempoint, a specialist cementitious pointing mortar able to ensure maximum productivity from the allotted time on site.
Cempoint comes in small, pre-packed, contractor friendly units ready for gun-application. It is easy to transport, which facilitated movement of both the product and installation equipment through the station to the bridge, a few hundred yards down the line. Cempoint's ease of application and excellent performance properties enabled the contractor, Carillion Highway Maintenance (in Partnership with Warwickshire County Council), to complete the work more quickly and efficiently than was originally anticipated, including additional works highlighted and authorised during the rail possession.
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Carpet , Wood , Ceramic & Tiling , Rubber , Vinyl , Residential , Commercial , Industrial , Facing bricks , Housing Bricks , Handmade , Decorative , Aircrete , Specials/Bespoke , Mortars , Industrial , Domestic , Civil Engineering
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