Peddimore Shortlisted for Two Major Project of the Year Awards

Winvic Construction Ltd has been shortlisted for two highways awards. The entries for the Major Project categories in the Highways Awards and Highways UK Excellence Awards focused on Winvic’s S278 works for Birmingham City Council (BCC) as part of IM Properties’ (IMP) Peddimore project.

The Highways Awards Ceremony and Gala Dinner will be held on 11 October at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge in London.

The winners of the Highways UK Excellence Awards will be announced at Resorts World in Birmingham one week later on the evening of 18 October, which the first of the two-day Highways UK exhibition at the adjacent NEC.

Furthermore, the Yorkshire and North East Community has been shortlisted for Team of the Year in the Highways UK Excellence Awards for the collaborative delivery of social value in the region – and Winvic is a member of this team along with other contractors as part of its work in that region under the National Highways Scheme Delivery Framework.

Peddimore S278 Works

The programme comprised highways, roundabout, cycleway and footbridge construction over the A38 as well as drainage installation and multiple utility diversions. The works were designed to facilitate access to the new 37-hectare employment park near Sutton Coldfield, which includes a 500,000 sq ft industrial facility, and to negate traffic congestion in the area.

An embargo on works was announced during Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) to coincide with the Commonwealth Games being held in Birmingham. Therefore, Winvic worked flexibly and advanced the programme of works to ahead of the embargo to ensure scheme completion dates could be achieved. Roundabout construction works either side of the existing A38 dual carriageway were undertaken off-line, as were the highways widening works leading to the roundabout. Traffic was switched onto the alignment of the newly created roundabout so that on-line works and the centre of the roundabout could be constructed. A 24/7 contraflow solution was developed during the ECI stage to enable a larger working area, which mean the programme could be delivered faster.

The design, methodology and construction programme for the 60-metre span, steel arch footbridge over the A38 was designed to meet numerous constraints, including BCC’s requirements to achieve a complex welded connection design and digital modelling was used for optioneering. To ensure the A38 was not closed for longer than one weekend, the bridge was designed to be manufactured in three deck sections and three arch sections off-site. It was erected in an adjacent offline area and then installed in one weekend road closure, tandem lifted with two mobile cranes and moved into place on six SMPTs; over 20 professionals were present to focus on the bridge component installation.

The scheme met its aim of providing safe vehicle access to Peddimore Employment Park and relieved future pressure on the A38. The pathways around the site and over the A38 bridge now benefit pedestrians and cyclists with connections to Minworth and on to the Birmingham and Fazeley canal. Furthermore, the project contributed to the wider community and far-reaching, long-lasting social value outcomes were delivered to people in deprived areas. A collaborative approach across local authorities, contractors, charities and training and education providers supported extensive training, employment and community projects. Successful outcomes include 2,070 training/employment weeks, 64 people facing back-to-work challenges were supported into employment and 466 training weeks were delivered with 93% of learners being local residents.

Rob Cook, Winvic’s Director of Civils and Infrastructure, said: “90 per cent of the Peddimore highways works were constructed offline and we ensured the A38 was only fully closed to traffic for five nights to undertake surfacing works and for one weekend to construct the bridge. We balanced drivers’ and workforce safety with negating travel disruption and hitting delivery deadlines, and I’d like to thank the whole team for their efforts in delivering a complex scheme. We’re incredibly proud of the S278 works at Peddimore – as well the additional infrastructure and vertical build programmes at the same site – but it’s particularly satisfying to be recognised for our hard work by two highly regarded industry awards.”

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