Hindhead paving contract

26 May 2010

A large scale paving installation scheme along the Southern tunnel, part of the 1.9km twin bore under the Devil’s Punch Bowl site in Hindhead was finalised earlier this month. The contract went to Bardon Composite Pavements (BCP).

Forming part of the GBP 371M (USD 534M) Highways Agency A3 Hindhead Improvement scheme, BCP recently completed the first phase of works paving 5,000m³ area using Cement Bound Granular Material (CBGM) for the foundation and base layer of the carriageway.

Working closely with main contractor Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering, the CBGM was mixed from the site mixing plant into 9t forward tipping dumpers which eliminated any issues with reversing vehicles down the 1.9km length of the tunnel.

Initial work started at the scheme in January 2007, with the main tunneling works commencing in February 2008 - both tunnel bores broke through on 26 February 2009. The tunnel is planned to be open for traffic in mid 2011, removing an estimated 30,000 vehicles a day from this site of special scientific interest and alleviate the notorious bottleneck at Hindhead crossroads.

Richard Needham, Operations Director at Bardon Composite Pavements said, “This was a challenging scheme where health and safety was a huge consideration in terms of our overall approach. We worked closely with Balfour Beatty to ensure that their strict and robust procedures were met, continually reviewing our approach and implementing the right solution in order to meet all of our customer’s needs and expectations.”