Winvic and novated consultant Applied Geology, geotechnical and contaminated land specialists, have been shortlisted in the Ground Engineering Awards. The Hoyland Common Plot 2 Infrastructure project has been selected along with six other schemes for the ‘UK Project with a Geotechnical Value of between £1 million and £3 million’ category.
The Applied Geology and Winvic teams will next present the combined entry to the judging panel on 12 May and take part in a question-and-answer session about the project. The winners will be revealed for all 19 categories in the Ground Engineering Awards at a ceremony being held at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House Hotel in London on Wednesday, 12 July.
Contracted by Newlands Developments, Winvic completed the Hoyland Common infrastructure project, located off M1 Junction 36 at Barnsley, in August 2022. It comprised a complex earthworks exercise across an area that was previously mined through both underground and former opencast coal mining, and included a 800,000m3 cut and fill operation.
The 132-acre site was divided into three plots and the Plot 2 works – shortlisted for the Award – involved the creation of a 13-metre-high embankment comprising engineered fill placed over areas of historic opencast mining and associated multiple highwalls. In conjunction with this – and due to the amount of fill to be placed over the opencast backfill material – a ground improvement solution comprising the installation of pre-fabricated vertical drains and surcharging was developed by Winvic and Applied Geology to ensure the client’s post-construction settlement tolerances could be achieved.
The team successfully tailored the surcharge ground improvement to the varying depths of Made Ground and heights of upfill by developing a digital ground model and determining zones of similar conditions to which different approaches could be applied. Detailed parametric assessments and settlement modelling allowed for a reduction in surcharge height. When combined with the design of band drains – to reduce drainage pathways and accelerate consolidation effectively – the area was able to be surcharged as a single phase given the soil volume available, leading to a considerable programme saving.
Rob Cook, Winvic’s Head of Civils and Infrastructure, commented: “We’re delighted that the collaborative geotechnical and earthworks solution designed and executed on Plot 2 Hoyland Common has been recognised as exceptional and we hope worthy of a Ground Engineering Award. We were presented with a number of challenges, but one-team working with Applied Geology, Newlands Developments and other subcontractors led to the delivery of an innovative and effective solution that provided a considerable cost and programme saving. The team, who in my eyes definitely deserve this award, will be showcasing their expertise to the judges in May and we’ll be hoping for an exciting outcome at the awards ceremony in July.”
Applied Geology, added: “’This is a proud moment for Applied Geology that our joint nomination with Winvic for the Hoyland Common project has been shortlisted for the 2023 Ground Engineering Awards. This achievement is particularly pleasing as it recognises the joint effort between the geotechnical team at Applied Geology and Winvic in finding innovative, cost effective and sustainable solutions in very challenging ground conditions and working efficiently together to implement the designs within a tight programme. We look forward to the presentations and awards night alongside Winvic with whom it has been a privilege to collaborate and work with on this and other interesting projects.”
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